PNGi INVESTIGATES
New Vice-Minister for State Negotiations Comes with a Foreboding Past
The newly elected first-time MP, Jimmy Maladina, a man once described by Justice Sakora as the ‘manipulative member’ of a ‘conspiratorial criminal cabal’, has been quickly elevated up the parliamentary ranks by the Prime Minister. Prime Minister Marape recently announced Maladina has been appointed Vice Minister for State Negotiations. It is a role to which Jimmy Maladina could be well...
THE COURT REPORT
Western Highlands Govt Offloads Plantation at 95% Discount in ‘Suspicious’ Sale
Up until 2013 the Western Highlands Provincial Government was the 80% owner of a 1,050 hectare coffee plantation (Rui plantation), with timber assets valued at K8 million alone. The provincial government’s interest was held through the company Canopus No 101 Ltd, which owns Rui plantation. In a commercial deal described as ‘unlawful’ by the National Court, the Provincial Government sold...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Fraud, corruption and mismanagement – a window into the failings of the DSIP system
A recently published report by the Office of the Auditor General gives a unique but distinctly worrying glimpse into the world of the District Development Authorities and their mismanagement and misuse of government funds. District Development Authorities are the local government bodies tasked with delivering improved local services and infrastructure in each of the eighty-nine open electorate seats across Papua...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Scramble for Bougainville’s Resources: A Window Into Mineral Exploration Culture
...including landowners, provincial governments and national government leaders. Bougainville is an autonomous region and future independent nation, that has had a particularly difficult relationship with the mining sector, after the Panguna mine was pushed through by the then Australian colonial administration, against the warning and protests of impacted communities. As is now well know the mine sparked a war that...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
More logging industry abuses exposed, this time in New Ireland
...logging camps at Kumin, Muliama and Karu were reportedly fined for breaches of their entry visas and work permits. The workers were employed with three logging companies, named as Millionplus, its sister company Islands Forest, and Viva Success. According to acting Provincial Administrator, Moses Taram, foreigners are regularly entering New Ireland illegally via foreign shipping vessels while those who do...
THE COURT REPORT
Provincial Accountant stole K1.3 million from the State
...of successful prosecutions. Jonah Posa was Provincial Accountant for the Western Highlands Provincial Government from 2013 to 2014. He was recently found guilty of stealing K1.3 million in cash. The money was unlawfully taken from Provincial government bank accounts using cash cheques. Posa was assisted in his crimes, says the Chief Justice who presided at his trial, by three more...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Hidden Valley landowners scavenge for law and order funding
...Understanding was signed between the stakeholders in the mine. The MOU governs the disbursement of royalties by the State to the Provincial government (42%), three Local-level governments (14%), the customary owners of the mining lease land (39%), other affected communities (3%) and settler communities (2%). The ‘settler communities’ are defined in the MOU as people that had been granted permissive...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Death toll climbs yet again as Health Dept reforms fall flat
...of stock since July. It is not just rural clinics that are suffering. In August it was reported the Angau Provincial Hospital had been without critical drugs since January. The Provincial Health CEO blames the national procurement and distribution system for the shortages. It means patients have to buy their own medicines from private pharmacies when seeking treatment at the...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Yama fails in latest bid to quash criminal charges
...bribed two election officials during the counting of votes for the Madang governorship. Although the two officials were arrested, charged and convicted, the Provincial Police Commander ordered no action be taken against Yama himself. It was a decision the National Court later condemned. Justice Canning found the police commander had ‘actively prevented’ any investigation of Yama, and in doing so...
THE COURT REPORT
Court Ruling Places Governor Parkop at the Centre of NCDC Scandal
In 2012 rubber trader Onne Bani made tentative steps into the world of civil construction. Even by his lawyer’s own account Bani was inexperienced. Nevertheless, in 2013 NCD Governor Powes Parkop and his Project Coordinator attempted to grant Bani’s newly established company two road construction contracts valued at over K12 million. Public tender requirements were ignored. The experienced lawyer Governor...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Illegal logging in Musa Foru stopped
The Popondetta District court has recently issued orders temporarily halting any logging operations in the Musa Foru area of Oro Province. Local landowners say they have never consented to the clearing of their forests. Oro Governor, Gary Juffa, has been assisting the landowners with their court action. He has been battling illegal logging in his Province for many years. Juffa...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Former Forest Minister a lone wolf or is he being thrown to the dogs?
The PNG Forest Authority claims it has revoked a Timber Permit ‘TP 10-11’, awarding logging rights over the Vanimo Timber Rights Purchase Blocks 3, 4 and 5, on the grounds that it was unlawfully issued by a former Forest Minister. According to the Forest Authority, ‘TP 10-11’ was issued by Solan Mirisim, the current Minister for Defence, in contravention of...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
O’Neill Linked to Irregular Land Deal Uncovered by Deloitte
Through a skeletal structure that wraps around the earth of the Southern Highlands, the Kutubu Petroleum Project extracts a rich interior of oil held beneath the surface. Once exported onto heaving global markets, this translates annually into hundreds of millions in revenue for provincial governments and Fasu, Foe and Kikori landowners, channelled through a holding vehicle, Petroleum Resources Kutubu Limited....
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Marape resurrects defunct Konebada statutory body mired in fraud allegations
...account its senior personnel, it appears Prime Minister Marape has negotiated a deal with Donald Valu to reinvent the KPPA as a business arm of the Central Provincial Government. In today’s investigation the Department of Finance’s pursuit of Donald Valu for financial impropriety and mismanagement is revealed. We also expose how the Prime Minister has chosen to involve himself with...
THE COURT REPORT
Kimbe’s ex-Mayor convicted of theft
...illustrates both how far the cancer of corruption has infected our nation and how those on the lower rungs of the ladder are sometimes not just exposed but also made to pay. The small provincial town of Kimbe serves as the administrative centre for the logging and oil palm province of West New Britain. At its heart, across the road...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Taxpayers to fund questionable K8.5 million ‘bonus’ for private lawyer
...agreement struck with the Morobe Provincial Government in 2018. The Morobe Provincial Government contracted Ralph Saulep and a business associate, Elizabeth Bradshaw, as ‘Special Advisors and Consultants’ for a five year period at a rate of K25,000 per month each. If the name Elizabeth Bradshaw sounds familiar, it may be because she is one of the directors and shareholders in...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Sand mining plans littered with red flags
...plan is also being opposed by local tourism operators. A previous PNGi investigation exposed a pattern of misinformation from the project proponents about their corporate structure. Our investigation revealed how they have courted political friends at the Provincial level while the Mineral Resource Authority has been fast-tracking their proposal. Today we delve deeper into the background of the Singaporean business...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
MRA accused of steamrolling sand mining approval
Coastal communities from the Sumkor district of Madang province are crying foul over plans by overseas company Niugini Sands, to mine sand on their customary land. They say the Mineral Resource Authority is fast-tracking government approval and steamrolling over their rights at the same time. It is a familiar tale, a large-scale natural resource extraction project being imposed on local...
THE COURT REPORT
New Scandal Engulfs Embattled Foreign Minister Patrick Pruaitch
...the Provincial Supply and Tender Board. However, on 3 February 2013 K1.3 million was paid to Karridale Limited, with the payment divided between five separate invoices which were virtually identical to each other. Splitting a single procurement into multiple invoices to avoid review or competitive selection, can be a strong indicator of corruption. [Italics added] Set against this backdrop, last...
PNGi INVESTIGATES
Rooting Out the Rot in PNG’s Forest Industry
Papua New Guinea’s oldest daily newspaper is leading the calls for the government to ban foreign logging companies who have no respect for the law. ‘Time to Root out the Rot in PNG Logging’ was the headline for a recent Editorial applauding the efforts of a joint-agency task force, ‘Operesen Rausim Alien’. ‘Operesen Rausim Alien’ has uncovered illegal workers and...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
COVID-19 Spending Alert
...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’....
PNGi INVESTIGATES
K53 Million in Health Dept Contracts Go To Gang of Red Flag Firms: Part I
...It contains critical details often denied to the public. Principally, major health infrastructure data, including contracts awarded, the recipient companies, and work progress. The report was distributed to the Prime Minister, Health Minister, Departmental Secretaries, National and Provincial health officials, in addition to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, and NZAid. The level of detail provided in the report was...
THE COURT REPORT
Illegal Car Hire Agreement Almost Fleeced Taxpayers of K1 million
...some notable comment for the ‘shilly-shallying of Madang Provincial Government and the various lawyers who have acted on its behalf’. He observes: ‘This case is yet another example of what I said many times during my ten years as resident Judge for Madang Province: Madang Provincial Government is poorly represented, and the interests of the People of Madang are routinely...
THE TOKAUT BLOG
Have govt Ministers been lured into another expensive scam?
...Central Bank in tranches. Once the money arrives McKinley will signal the provincial government who will then ask the government to set up a State negotiating team – to negotiate what exactly? Project components will be delivered on a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) model, so the investor will build a factory (usually after having been granted significant tax...