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PNGi INVESTIGATES
Farmers Swindled out of K2 Million by Dept Secretaries
On paper former Departmental Secretary, Valentine Kambori, has an impressive resume. Most recently he has been appointed by the Marape Government to lead on its National Agriculture Sector Plan. Kambori is also a senior adviser to the Department of Agriculture and Livestock. Agriculture Minister John Simon has selected Kambori to help fast-track a K2 billion integrated agricultural industrial park project...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Luxury Brisbane home adds new layer to Horizon Oil bribery scandal
...working as an advisor to Kina Petroleum. In Papua New Guinea, Darrell Seeto is a shareholder in three companies. He owns one-third of Kumul Energy Resources Limited, the other two-thirds is owned by a Sandra Chan. Seeto, Sandra Chan and John Chan are the three directors. Both Darrell Seeto and Kumul Energy Resources are shareholders in Kina Petroleum Limited. Remember...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
How a murky foreign outfit attempted to bankrupt PNG
Few will forget the Commission of Inquiry into Special Agricultural and Business Leases. It exposed grabbing of customary land on an epic scale. Chief Commissioner John Numapo memorably remarked in 2013, “with corrupt government officials from implementing agencies riding shotgun for them, opportunistic loggers masquerading as agro-forestry developers are prowling our countryside, scoping opportunities to take advantage of gullible landowners...
THE COURT REPORT
Fund Manager Mark Sakai Masterminded K10m Fraud
...vocal anti-graft fighter, Lawrence Stephens. Owner of Melanesian Trustee Services Limited is Fijian national John Sanday, a man lambasted by Justice Don Sawong in his Commission of Inquiry into the Pacific Balanced Fund. In today’s court report, PNGi digs deeper into this case of fraud and abuse of trust, that saw 117 struggling landowner groups fleeced of a prime asset...
POWER PROFILES
William Duma: From Manu Manu to Horizon Oil
...thoroughly investigate the matter. With an unstable governing coalition, O’Neill mysteriously claimed he was blocked legally from convening a CoI. Instead he launched an administrative inquiry, led by John Griffin QC. The administrative inquiry could not subpoena (compel) witnesses or documents. In effect, it had to ask parties accused of serious criminal misconduct whether they would voluntarily hand over documents...
THE COURT REPORT
Forest Authority abusing the law to defeat 1991 reforms
...Jaya for a mere K2000. Chief Commissioner John Numapo described it as “… one of the cheapest land sale in modern times” and “the most reckless act any landowner chairman could commit”. The Commission recommended the chairman, Ignaz Aro, be criminally charged for forgery and fraud. Not only was the transfer of the landowners share the bargain of the century...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
How Don Polye helped swing the 2012 election for O’Neill
...Tommy Tomscoll), and John Kekeno in Koroba Kopiago who lost to T.H.E. Party candidate Philip Undialu. In total, of all those who missed out, only seven managed to win re-election in 2012 – Michael Somare, Bob Dadae in Kabwum, John Hickey in Bogia, John Pundari in Kompiam, James Legea in Kagua Erave, Framcis Potape in Komo Magarima, and Roy Biyama...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Best of PNGi Central 2019: Your Most Read
...them, perhaps more surprisingly, the government Australia, was the focus of two top-10 stories. Here is the countdown of the top 10 most popular PNGi reports of 2019. 10. Minister and Secretary Misled Govt over K10 Billion Tower Deal Based on an Ombudsman Commission investigation, PNGi revealed how John Kali and Puka Temu misled the government into an improper and...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Konebada Petroleum Park Authority too corrupt to fall?
...Donald Valu as KPPA CEO and by Bige Petroleum Managing Director, John Bige. The record of payments received by KPPA reveal four payments were received from Bige, for a total of K1,656,800. These payments were variously recorded as ‘Land Lease’ payments and ‘Sale of Land’ relating to Portion 2684 (not 2683). Two of the payments made by Bige have been...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Prime Minister Marape Aided Indonesian Fugitive Joko Tjandra
...Indonesian Criminal Joko Tjandra Dr Lawrence Kalinoe Hon Ano Pala Manasupe Zurenuoc, OBE Hon James Marape Hon Kerenga Kua, MP Hon Patrick Pruaitch Constable Davis A. Evari Hon John Pundari Acting Chief Sergeant Kasa Wumber Hon Matthew Poia R. Nenta, OBE, QPM (NIO) Mataio Rabura Robert Akunaii Sir Nagora Y. Bogan Hon Gary Juffa Anton Benjamin Rimbink Pato Donald Foo...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Minister and Secretary Misled Govt Over K10 Billion Tower Deal
...2012 the Minister for Public Services, Puka Temu, ordered John Kali to begin negotiating a Build Operate Lease Transfer (BOLT) style arrangement with a company Naima Investments Limited, that would apparently solve this problem, or so it seemed. Image: Letter from Puka Temu to John Kali, 5 September 2012 Another report produced by the Ombudsman Commission reveals, the year before,...
THE COURT REPORT
The Cloudy Bay Scandal Just Got Cloudier
...not been accused of any wrongdoing. Nevertheless, his previous business partners have been the subject of investigations relating to serious crimes and business malfeasance. These business partners include the convicted murderer Theo Yasause, Gregory John Melides who was labelled an underworld figure by Queensland’s Criminal Justice Commission for his alleged role in illegal gambling and political bribery, the Elomar brothers...
THE COURT REPORT
Marape Removed NHEL Management Now He Should Investigate Them
In late 2017 James Marape MP, along with John Kaupa MP, made the decision as trustee shareholders to close down the National Housing Estate Limited (NHEL), and terminate its senior management, including CEO Kevin Ahipum. NHEL had been set up by the national government as a real-estate arm of the National Housing Corporation (the National Housing Corporation is a statutory...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
PM Marape please clean up the National Housing Corporation
...National Court, and Auditor General, under the stewardship of John Dege (Managing Director), and Paul Isikiel (Housing Minister), NHC funds were routinely abused. Video: Small mercies, Dege failed in his 2017 bid for parliament on a People’s National Congress ticket Perhaps fittingly during the last gasps of the O’Neill regime, to the dismay of many, Magistrate Cosmas Bidar decided to...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Philip Eludeme and the third Manumanu Land Scandal
...earlier for just K200,000, according to the Administrative Inquiry Chaired by John Griffin QC. Mr Eludeme, a senior public servant, made a profit of over K16m at the taxpayers expense The amount paid to Mr Eludeme was ‘vastly excessive‘ and the result of ‘considerable impropriety‘ Griffin QC observes. But, no further action has been taken either to recover the money...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Condemned SABL used for eviction application
...lease allows Konekaru Holdings to occupy the land rent free for 99 years. The acquisition of the lease was allegedly part of a scheme to profit from the construction and operation of the giant Exxon-Mobil LNG project. At centre of the scheme, according to the Commission of Inquiry, was Gerard Kassman and his sons, Charles and John. It was Charles...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Govt Stole Development Funds from Logging Communities
...since 2007, when it declared its assets as K4. Nonetheless, it had two cocao processing and export projects approved for K2.74 million in funding. The company is owned by Joe Panga, John Same, Bernard Bote and Simon Lavaso. The largest amount of project funding approved by the LEDL trustees, according to the AGO, was K8 million awarded to Asaule Development...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Can the PM Defend a Nation he Wants to Own?
...elite. Prominent names include, Donald John Beattie (Partner in the Pacific Legal Group and PM’s long-term associate), Tiong Sii Huang, (involved in at least 20 companies including Amanab Forest Products, Jaya and Berjaya Construction and Vanimo Supermarket), Ian Jepson (Global Construction), Hao Zhong Luo (China Jiangsu and Jimmy Maladina’s benefactor), Jin So Poh (construction and retail interests and a director...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Australia gets another F
...Development Corporation Limited, which has a 12% stake in PIH. It is ultimately owned by Kumul Consolidated Holdings. Kumul Consolidated Holdings is the state enterprise at the centre of the Manu Manu land scandal. According to the Administrative Inquiry led by Australian QC John Griffin, Kumul Holdings paid a grossly inflated price for land, with the complicity of its management,...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
The Birth of Kleptocracy: A Eulogy for the Nation
...Lieutenant Colonel Ted Diro escorts Queen Elizabeth in her 1974 visit to PNG The Commission of Inquiry (CoI) notes that Diro teamed up with former President of the PNG Law Society, Gerard Kassman, Foong Chin Cheah, who was acting on behalf of the Malaysian Angus Group, and John Kasaipwalova. Both Kasaipwalova and Kassman would become involved in Diro’s Peoples Action...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
PNGi 2018 – A Quick Review
...to the connivance of government departments. For decades those living in State housing in urban cities have enjoyed no better protection, thanks to the rotten National Housing Corporation and its Managing Director, John Dege. Taking From the Poor to Feed the Rich was the title of PNGi’s three-part expose that led to a petition calling for a police investigation. Thankfully,...
THE COURT REPORT
Peter Yama dodges electoral bribery charge
...National Court, after they failed to report a corrupt gratification they had received from a candidate during the vote count for the Madang Provincial Seat. John Tumaing confessed to receiving K50 from the candidate, and Nixon Kavo, admitted to receiving K500. Under the Criminal Code both men were duty bound to report this corrupt gratification to a law enforcement officer....
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Momis is the Word on Bougainville
...fraud, and mismanagement. Now the finger has been pointed at President John Momis in a petition by service providers and ex-combatants. The President stands accused of mismanagement and corruption. In 2016, a cache of documents accounting for ABG expenditure during 2014 was leaked by concerned civil servants. This cache reveals that John Momis and his wife Elizabeth Momis benefited from...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Was the PNGDF Scammed out of K15.4m?
This is the second instalment of PNGi’s coverage of the Manu Manu scandal report (see Part I here). Produced by an Administrative Inquiry under the Chairmanship of John Griffin QC, it was recently leaked to the public. Today we scrutinise a highly irregular Port Moresby land deal, which placed a number of high profile individuals under the inquiry spotlight. This...