…is especially so, given that the China Railway / Waigani Court Complex case is not the only example on the public record of Jimmy Maladina earning substantial fees for arranging State contracts. UBS – another handsome payoff The now infamous UBS loan, taken out by the government of Peter O’Neill to fund the purchase of shares in Oil Search Limited,…

…loan monies were used for. Despite his denials, the lawyers say it is clear Peter O’Neill knew and intended that the monies that he arbitrarily decided the State should borrow from UBS (in what was a one-sided and unfair deal), would end upon the hands of Mr Civelli, a man that Peter O’Neill had met and had private discussions with…

Three career police officers are currently languishing in Bomana prison, locked up by the courts for the role they played in protecting the then Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, from arrest in 2014 over allegations he personally authorised the payment of K71 million by the State to Paraka lawyers. While ultimately O’Neill successfully dodged the Paraka scandal by disbanding his own…

…to the taxpayer amounted to around K1 billion. According to an Ombudsman Commission report, which was delayed for three-years by legal action by Peter O’Neill, the initial deal was arbitrarily cooked up by Peter O’Neill and Oil Search Managing Director Peter Botten in a cosy meeting at the Grand Papua Hotel in February 2014. To fund the purchase, the national…

It is a familiar story, one that PNGi has reported on numerous times before. The nation’s elite politicians and businessmen using their wealth and position to mount numerous legal challenges to delay criminal charges or civil sanction. Peter O’Neill, Paul Paraka, Patrick Pruaitch and many more are all adept at manipulating the system to retain their positions of power, and…

…Queental Limited a shell company with one asset at the time the purchase was made, K15 million in land. Former Queental Limited shareholders include then Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, a fact covered in a previous PNGi story. The Petroleum Resources Kutubu Board issued a heated response to that PNGi investigation. A media release purported to be from Petroleum Resources Kutubu’s…

…intervene in support of the landowners. Logs from the Kimadi Conservation area being removed for export. Woodbank Pacific Limited is owned by Malaysian national Tiong Sii Huang. Huang has extensive business interests in PNG and is a business associate of former Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, having served on the Board of one of his companies, Paradise Breweries Limited, from 2018-2019….

…pointed out that the MRDC Chairman at the time was the Prime Minister’s own Chief Secretary, Isaac Lupari, and that the MRDC reported directly to the Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill. Also, said Pruaitch, the Ombudsman Commission should investigate the circumstances that led to the absence of government lawyers to defend the case ‘especially since the Office of the Auditor General…

…was allegedly signed off by then Works Minister, Peter O’Neill. O’Neill would later go on to appoint Kuman Minister for Education. But this is not a case noteworthy purely because of the criminal behaviour exhibited by a senior civil servant. Also deserving of mention are Works Department officials who attempted to call out this behaviour at great personal and professional…

…Peter O’Neill was a shareholder in Queental Limited via his holding vehicle LBJ Investments, it is a matter that must in all justice be investigated by authorities to ensure this deal was in full compliance with the law and leadership code. PNGi reached out to LBJ Investments, Queental Limited, and MRDC for comment on this irregular transaction. No response was…

…prime ministerial pen. In September 2013, O’Neill’s government abruptly passed legislation liquidating PNGSDP’s shares in Ok Tedi, its primary source of revenue. Reissuing new shares in Ok Tedi to the government, O’Neill framed this as a historic moment of economic nationalism. Critics of the move feared the value of Ok Tedi revenue to the public would be rapidly eroded to…

What would you do as the Prime Minister – upon assuming the captain’s seat you discover a statutory authority mired in mismanagement, lavish spending, tax evasion, fraud and potentially misappropriation, all of which has cost the public over K13 million. Added to that, it is a statutory authority whose actions were so unsightly even the O’Neill government found it beyond…

…Marcus Ong with James Marape, Derrick and Marcus Ong with Peter O’Neill, Derrick Ong alongside Rimbink Pato, Derrick and Marcus with Mera Wori, Derrick and Marcus with Michael Ogio, Derrick and Patrick Basa, Derrick and Johnson Tuke. MRA will surely be treading very carefully to ensure none of these political connections sway its decision making processes in respect of Niugini…

…Peter O’Neill, he is a frequent topic on the pages of PNGi over irregular business deals, and censure from government oversight agencies. Finally there is the lawyer Bonny Ninai. Ninai first gained public notoriety when he acted as the lawyer for then Prime Minister Bill Skate during the Sandline inquiry. Ninai attracted controversy in 2011 when he was reported to…

…revealed to be NKW Holdings. Baker notes, NKW Holdings ‘was on Bank South Pacific’s “watchlist” for unpaid debts at the time it was engaged by [Australia’s] Home Affairs [Department]’. Baker continues, ‘its directors include provincial government officials and retired PNG Supreme Court judge Don Sawong, who in 2017 unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s political party’….

…Lawyers. He is also the son of a former MP for Ialibu/Pangia MP, Pundia Kange (the seat is currently held by former PM, Peter O’Neill). Kange is originally from Maia village, Pangia, Southern Highlands Province. According to Financial Action Task Force recommendations on politically exposed persons, Kange as an immediate family member of a former MP, is a politically exposed…

…the Prime Minister (Peter O’Neill) for a review the Foreign Minister’s decision. At NEC meeting No 01/2013 on 6 February 2013, the request was deliberated on. Minister for Justice and Attorney General, Kerenga Kua, supported the Foreign Minister, arguing he be empowered to seek a National Court order revoking and nullifying Tjandra’s citizenship. The Ombudsman Commission then recounts the strange…

…unpaid debts at the time it was engaged by [Australia’s] Home Affairs [Department]’. Baker continues, ‘its directors include provincial government officials and retired PNG Supreme Court judge Don Sawong, who in 2017 unsuccessfully ran as a candidate for Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s political party’. A leaked email acquired by Fairfax from a Bank South Pacific manager states ‘Australian Department of…

…close personal relationship with the Prime Minister, was getting a cut of major contracts awarded to China Railway by the state. Heightening concerns is the nature of the relationship between then Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, and Jimmy Maladina. Jimmy’s brother Harvey Maladina was recorded on camera stating that his brother Jimmy is ‘Chief Adviser’ to Prime Minister O’Neill. Harvey claims:…

…Minister Peter O’Neill announced the project would be resurrected as a massive housing development for low and middle income earners, overseen by the National Housing Commission (NHC). Construction was initially handed over to a joint-venture led by a failed Australian builder, Kamran Samimi, and a Chinese company blacklisted by the World Bank. While that joint-venture failed to materialise, in 2015/2016…

…Duma subsequently appointed to the Board of the National Development Bank. This comes in the wake of the recent UBS loan scandal involving former PM, Peter O’Neill, the oil and gas industry, Australian banks and exclusive property purchases. Shortly after the disastrous UBS loan deal was arranged to purchase Oil Search shares, O’Neill’s son was found living in an exclusive…

…also acted for Philip Eludeme, the other key principal alleged to have benefited from the Manu Manu land fraud. In addition Ketan worked for Eludeme associate Jimmy Maladina, an individual implicated in frauds by the court and NPF Commission of Inquiry, and who was said to be the chief adviser to Peter O’Neill, when the latter served as Prime Minister….

…political rivals within his own government an opportunity to seize power. In August 2011, Parliament declared the post of Prime Minister vacant and elected Peter O’Neill as Somare’s replacement. This was despite O’Neill’s People’s National Congress (PNC) Party having only six-seats in the 109-member Parliament. O’Neill promptly appointed opposition leader Belden Namah as his deputy Prime Minister and Don Polye,…

…and had been implicated in a major illegal land deal and whose other beneficiaries had similarly questionable backgrounds. 5. The Midas Touch: How Peter O’Neill and his Associates have Made a Killing – Part 1 This investigative report into the career of Peter O’Neill was published back in June 2017, but it still featured high in the list of most…