The Jimmy Maladina Scandal You Didnt See!

...controlled during this period by Jimmy Maladina and his wife, Janet Karl. When the Milne Bay Provincial Government attempted to claw back the property illicitly obtained from the public by PNG Deep Sea Fishing, Maladina and his wife formally acquired the company’s shareholdings and initiated seven years of litigation that ended in 2014. Lets look at how this caper unfolded....

Govt to cede sovereignty in cryptocurrency gamble

...on 5th of April 2018. The bill gives that MOA the force of law and dominance over any other laws. It compels the national, provincial and local level governments and government departments to comply with the MOA. [Section 4 and Schedule 1]. The questions this investigation throws up seem almost limitless, but one wonders how the global investors Credit Suisse...

Chris Haiveta: A Slippery Fish?

...Minister for Planning and Implementation, Minister for Fisheries, Minister for Labour and Employment (twice), Minister for Housing, and Minister for Mining. Before that Haiveta joined the Department of Provincial Affairs as an Executive Officer and occupied various public service positions including Secretary for the Department of Gulf and Economic Advisor and Chief of Staff in the Prime Minister’s office (1988-92)....

Michael Nali Part 3: Climbing the Great Wall

This is the final instalment in a three-part profile of Michael Nali, the current Minister for Works and Implementation. Here we look at his unique private and public relationship with a Chinese state corporation implicated in a wide range of corruption and bribery scandals. Nali was first elected to parliament in 1992. He is now in his fourth term as...

Michael Nali Part 2: Friends, Allies and Business

This is the second of three reports profiling one of Papua New Guinea’s longest serving politicians and businessmen, Michael Nali. Nali is currently the Minister for Works and Implementation in the government of Peter O’Neill. In Part 1, PNGi highlighted the conflict of interest surrounding Michael Nali’s involvement in the controversial Paga Hill real estate development in Port Moresby. It...

Michael Nali Part 1: A Bad Penny Returns?

In May we brought you five days of Yama. Now we turn the investigative spotlight onto another of Papua New Guinea’s most enduring and controversial politicians, Michael Nali. In a three-part profile we look back at a 25 year career and expose some startling new facts. – – – – – – – – – – Michael Nali is one...

Woodlark Island Logging Scam Part 2: DAL Approval

A foreign owned company, Kulawood Limited, has applied for a permit to clear 30,000 hectares of forest on Woodlark (Muyua) Island under the guise of an agriculture and tree planting project. PNGi has conducted an investigation into the project documentation, approval process and the companies involved and found the logging permit application to be riddled with errors, inconsistencies and falsehoods....

Woodlark Island Logging Scam Part 1: Ebony Woods

A foreign owned company, Kulawood Limited, has applied for a permit to clear 30,000 hectares of forest on Woodlark (Muyua) Island under the guise of an agriculture and tree planting project. The company says logging will be followed by the establishment of tree, rubber and cocoa plantations. However, many of its claims about the project do not stand up to...

The Yama Files Part V: The Tale of 10 Supreme Court Judges

Men of faith and education use charity to steal K7 million

...University, in Christchurch, New Zealand. According to the state, he is Governor Wobiro’s Economic Adviser. Dr Gumoi was also at the time, Western Province Provincial Administrator and Chair of the Joint Provincial Planning and Budget Priorities Committee (JPP & BPC). According to his boss, Ati Wobiro: ‘Dr Gumoi is a fine man; he’s a Christian man and is very well...

Stealing the Public Wealth: Ghost Contracts

Anyone who has witnessed recurrent budget expenditure at a provincial or indeed national level, knows, that like a sieve, it has many holes which money falls through improperly to the benefit of public officials, politicians and their business allies. When an administration spends large sums on car hire for example – given there is no tangible deliverable – these deals...

Serious questions over Collingwood Bay logging

There are many more questions than answers over a controversial logging project at Collingwood Bay in Northern Province. The logging company, Northern Forest Products Limited, started operations in 2017 and currently has some 5,300 cubic metres of logs stockpiled at Wanigela awaiting export to China, according to its export permit application. Northern Forest Products Limited says the logging operation has...

LD Logistics

‘PNG’s population depend heavily on medical supplies provided by the government. Almost 99% of them access the health care services provided by the government and cannot even afford to seek alternate paid services from private clinics. This demonstrates how critical the health services funded by the government mean to its entire population. In other words, the government cannot afford to...

John Pundari

Last year, 2017, John Pundari celebrated three significant milestones: his fiftieth birthday; twenty-five years since his first election to Parliament; and five years as Minister for the Environment, Conservation and Climate Change. In this Profile, PNGi examines his career as both a politician and a businessman. John Thomas Pundari was born on the 7th of January 1967. He first entered...

Ministerial PMIZ Concerns Spot On

The Commerce and Industry Minister has raised serious concerns over expenditure on the Pacific Marine Industrial Zone. Criminologist and author of the book Uncovering the Crimes of Urbanisation, Professor Kristian Lasslett, reveals new evidence which should make the Minister shudder. In 2016 the public was taught a valuable lesson on why we ought to carefully scrutnise loans provided to PNG...

MP in K1 million DSIP fraud

On 19 May 2017, the former Member of Parliament for the Ligaip-Porgera seat in Enga Province, Phillip Kikala, was found guilty of stealing over K1.1 million in District Support Improvement Grant funds, just before the 2012 National elections. The court found, Kikala dishonestly misappropriated four separate sums of money by getting the funds paid out from Department of Rural Development...

Profiting from Sickness

In Part I of Profiting from Sickness, PNGi presented evidence centering on the pharmaceutical company, Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals Limited. The evidence adduced came from a range of authorities including, auditors, journalists, medical associations, senior physicians, politicians and the Australian government. Central to all these allegations are claims that Borneo Pacific has been the beneficiary of flawed or rigged tender processes,...

Investigating the Electoral Commissioner

In today’s Tokaut Blog criminologist Dr Kristian Lasslett, demonstrates a series of simple techniques – employing PNGi tools and freely available online resources – which citizens can use to investigate the Electoral Commissioner, Patilias Gamato. The results of this citizens’ inquiry reveal a man who on successive occasions has breached his legal duties as a public and corporate official …...

The Midas Touch: Part 3

In tandem with his political career, Peter O’Neill has built an extensive business empire with interests in almost every sector of the economy and assets worth many hundreds of millions of Kina. The Midas Touch is an in-depth investigation by PNGi into the Prime Minister’s business empire and how it has been interwoven with his political career. The Midas Touch...

The State -v- Achilles James Peni

On the 5th of December, 2013, Achilles James Peni was convicted by the National Court of misappropriating property, namely K2.7 million belonging to the Autonomous Bougainville Government between the dates of 1st Dec 2008 and 31st Dec 2009. The National Court alleges that this criminal act was concocted and organised by the regional member for Bougainville, Fidelis Semoso, who is...

Elite network behind Paga Hill Estate

Peter O’Neill, Michael Nali, Gudmundur Fridriksson, Rex Paki, Jimmy Maladina, Dame Carol Kidu, Labi Amaiu, Tom Amaiu, these are just some of the names uncovered through an extensive probe that looks into the power players behind Port Moresby’s controversial Paga Hill Estate development, and their business partners. The investigation was conducted by a senior criminologist Dr Kristian Lasslett, who began...