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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
In February the Australian Financial Review (AFR) broke the story of a bribery scandal surrounding the current Minister for Commerce and Trade, William Duma. It is alleged that in 2011 the Australian listed Horizon Oil paid a US$10.3m bribe to a Papua New Guinean shell company with ties to the Minister in order to get an oil exploration licence renewed....
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
Last week Commerce Minister William Duma appeared before the TV cameras indignant, after he was implicated by the Australian Financial Review (AFR) in a K34 million bribery scandal involving Horizon Oil. Following the AFR exposé, Horizon Oil suspended its CEO. Duma has remained in post and has gone on the offensive. Duma presents himself as the innocent victim of a...
THE COURT REPORT
Forest Authority abusing the law to defeat 1991 reforms
In 1989 the Barnett Commission of Inquiry passed damning judgement on the conduct of the logging industry and state of forest management in Papua New Guinea. Corruption, human rights abuses and unsustainable logging were rife. Foreign-owned logging companies were described by Justice Barnett as acting like robber barons: It would be fair to say… they are now roaming the countryside...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
How Don Polye helped swing the 2012 election for O’Neill
It was the year 2011. Papua New Guinea faced one of its worst constitutional crises. Two Prime Ministers faced off. On one side stood the Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare and on the other Peter O’Neill, each claiming the Prime Ministership as rightfully theirs. Both men have a history of corruption and illegal dealings documented in judicially led inquiries and...
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?
The Konebada Petroleum Park Authority (KPPA) has been used as a cash cow by politicians, senior officials and their business partners, swindling the State of millions. The Authority has been unable though to keep all of its lavish spending, dodgy deals and mysterious corporate manoeuvres out of the public eye. A series of investigative reports, including a number published by...
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
...Rolpagarea, State Solicitor Throughout the whole affair Rolpagarea advised government its proposal was illegal and not in compliance with the Public Finances (Management) Act. The villains in this tale are John Kali, the then Secretary, Department of Personnel Management and Chair of the Government Office Allocation Committee; and, Puka Temu, who was Minister for Public Services (Kali and Temu have...
THE COURT REPORT
The Cloudy Bay Scandal Just Got Cloudier
In 2007 PNG Sustainable Development Fund (PNGSDP) used revenues from Ok Tedi to purchase the Cloudy Bay timber operation for K47 million. It then invested a further K300 million in what was to be a flagship demonstration of sustainable forest management. But in 2014, the project was abruptly sold for just K40 million. PNGSDP claims the sale was underpinned by...
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
In 2013, a Commission of Inquiry described an agricultural lease issued over 450 hectares of land outside Port Moresby as ‘improper and unlawful’. The lease over portion 2465C, said the Commission, was one of a pair issued in a scheme that involved ‘misrepresentation and fraud’ and a ‘blatant disregard for the law’. The Commission said those responsible for issuing the...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Govt Stole Development Funds from Logging Communities
More than K100 million collected by the government from logging companies to fund community development projects has been stolen or misused. Senior departmental heads appointed as trustees have failed in their duties and the biggest beneficiary has been the government itself, which has unlawfully taken more than K80 million of community funds. These are findings contained in a scathing Auditor...
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
In the late 1980s Judge Tos Barnett prepared what would become a classic study on forestry sector corruption – The Commission of Inquiry into Aspects of the Forestry Industry. During his investigation, Judge Barnett cast a spotlight on the Angus Group of Companies and their bid to secure the Gadaisu forestry permit area in Central Province. The story of the...
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...