Casino Hotel saga not over

Two Asians locked up, ready face court and tell all

By GORETHY KENNETH

THE controversial multi-million kina five star casino hotel saga in Port Moresby is far from over.
Two Asians, alleged to be involved in the K200 million hotel were arrested in Port Moresby on Saturday after “slipping” into the country from Singapore on Saturday afternoon.
These are the two top Asian executives of the CMSS International, a subsidiary of CMSS (PNG) Ltd alleged to have siphoned K22 million belonging to the Petroleum Resource Moran (PRM) and Petroleum Resource Gobe (PRG) paid in as their shares to the tune of K11million each.
But these Asians (named) told the Post-Courier last night from their cell at Boroko Police Station that they were ready to face the court and explain to the landowners that their share was still intact and that they are ready to face the courts.
These two who are director and chairman were happy to talk to the Post-Courier
The confused duo claimed they still have not been told what they were charged for.
They told the this paper that the ‘landowners’ money was still intact, their shares still under record and control but were disappointed that they were not given a chance to speak and explain or get a lawyer to represent them.
One of them (chairman) cannot speak English so the director is the translator.
Over the weekend Korean Ambassador to PNG visited the Police Station to see if he could help the two but to no avail as the Police advised they were waiting to appear at the Police Fraud Squad to be formally charged before the courts at 8:30 this morning.
Last night Philip Kende, chairman of the PR Gobe Landowners said he tipped the Police off on the arrival of the two in Port Moresby who later got locked up at the Boroko Police Cells on Saturday evening.
He said one of them is still at large (named) and police are also looking for him.
The two petroleum resource landowner companies - Petroleum Resources Gobe and Petroleum Resources Moran had invested substantial amounts of the village people’s money into the casino hotel development. This they claim has gone missing and has been misappropriated by these company executives in November 2010.
NCDC and CMSS (PNG) Ltd, CMSS was responsible for the construction and completion of the Hotel and Casino facility, while the State facilitating the Building Board’s and Development License & State Lease Approval.
They appear in court this morning.
CMSS PNG Ltd constructed this hotel based on equity from its own operating funds and from the landowners through MRDC to the tune of K 11 million. This hotel was constructed without any local or international bank loan. The equity split would be determined after the hotel was constructed. Both PRG and PRM acquired 5% equity interest in CMSS (PNG) Ltd with capital outlay of K11 million each. The outstanding balance of the equity was expected from CMSS International, a Korean Company and the Parent Company of CMSS (PNG) Ltd.

Women debate national issues with vigour at first ever Practice Parliament for Women

Picture by Robert Weber (Our Port Moresby)

An historic event occurred in Port Moresby this week, when 58 women who are considering running in the 2012 National elections came together to participate in the first ever Practice Parliament for Women held in Papua New Guinea.
Training for the Practice Parliament started on Monday, with women participants learning about parliamentary procedures, as well as key issues of national interest. Thursday was their opportunity to show the people of PNG what they had learned, as they showcased their parliamentary debating skills during the Practice Parliament. The debate was held at the Holiday Inn, and was broadcast live on FM100.
Participants started their Practice Parliament with a lively session of a mock ‘Question Time’. Participants in the Mock Opposition asked questions of their Mock Government counterparts on a range of national issues, including health services to rural villages, implementing the “Education for All” policy, addressing corruption, ensuring responsible environmental practices by corporations and implementing programmes for PNG’s young people.
Ms Margaret Loko from the NCD was asked a question about how the Mock Government would protect women from unprovoked attacks based upon allegations of witchcraft. Ms Loko gave a spirited response, basing her answer around the actual efforts of the PNG Government in recent years to develop legislation to update the Criminal Code and remove sorcery from PNG’s statute books. Ms Loko was very positive about the usefulness of the Practice Parliament in promoting women’s leadership in PNG. “The Practice Parliament was a real eye-opener for the women who participated and we learnt the finer details about parliamentary procedures of law making that we can put to good use once we are elected into Parliament. I felt like an MP in action today!”.
Ms Mittie Katu-Bradford from Morobe asked a question on behalf of people living with disabilities in PNG. Ms Bradford reflected on the Practice Parliamentary question time saying that “it was a very useful exercise for the public to hear about the solutions that women can come up with in relation to the many issues PNG communities face, including those faced by people living with a disability. My vision is to ensure that the stigma and discrimination that disabled persons face is removed with continued awareness raising and education and I hope that my participation at this week’s Practice Parliament has shown the public that we can also contribute to society and make a difference if the public gives us the chance”.
Ms Dorothy Tekwie from Sandaun is a member of the Greens Party and was asked a question about how to protect indigenous landowners from being exploited by foreign businesses. She used the Practice Parliament as an opportunity to reflect on how the nation could more responsibly manage indigenous land ownership. Ms Tekwie commented that the Practice Parliament session on Thursday “gave women candidates an opportunity to build their confidence to be able to debate and contribute to discussions on issues as potential members of parliament”.
Following the Question Time, participants debated the Mock Reproductive Health Rights Bill, a practice Bill drafted to test the women’s skills in analyzing proposed legislation and debating amendments. Reflecting on her participation in the Practice Parliament, Ms Ruth Francis from Manus noted that “the training further empowered participants to broaden their knowledge and continue to research on issues affecting our communities so that we can integrate these into our campaign platforms.”
The Practice Parliament was organized by the Office of the Department of Women (ODW) and the United Nations (UN) as part of the national ODW strategy to support women candidates in their efforts to get elected to the National Parliament in the next elections.
Mr David McLachlan-Karr, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in PNG, attended the entire Practice Parliament for Women and was glowing in his praise for the women: “I was incredibly impressed by the high quality of leadership, vision and policy knowledge demonstrated by the PNG women who participated. The women showed enormous commitment in researching and preparing their arguments, and anyone who was listening to the broadcast today on FM100 would have realized that they are very articulate. These women certainly demonstrated today that the women of this country can make great national leaders if they are only given the opportunity to engage in national policy and decision-making forums.”
This Practice Parliament was supported by Ms Charmaine Rodrigues and Mr Isikeli Valemei from the UNDP Pacific Centre in Suva, as well as the Clerk of the Solomon Islands Parliament, Mrs Taeasi Sanga, and Mr Albert Kabui, the Legal and Procedural Officer at the Solomon Islands Parliament. The idea of having a Practice Parliament for Women was first launched by UNDP and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in 2011, following a recommendation arising out of a meeting of Small Islands Pacific States on Women in Decision-Making, which was held in Nadi in November 2010.
Readers who would like more information on the PNG Practice Parliament for Women can visit the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/PacWIP and get updates on twitter at @PacWIP. For more information on women in politics in PNG and the Pacific, they can go to www.pacwip.org/

*           *           *

If you would like any further information please don’t hesitate to contact Peterson Magoola, UNDP Gender Specialist, peterson.magoola@undp.org, +675 321 2877.

Maintain the Rage PNG

The lawyers advising this bunch of crooks in ‘government’ need a serve as they operate under the radar and seem to escape scrutiny here. Tiffany Twivey, as dumb as she is pops her head up now and then and blows their cover with her silly postings, trying to defend the indefensible.

To those lawyers advising the O’Neill/Namah ‘government’, you are there only because O’Neill and Namah have the keys to the treasury which I hear is just about dried up now. (The entire Department of Environment and Conservation was thrown out onto the streets and there is no money to accommodate them, yet there are barrels of cash for rogue ‘illegal’ advice. Shame!) You shamelessly help yourselves in the pillage and raid of the peoples’ treasury with your high fees, like the wolves you are, lining your pockets and bank accounts while the people suffer.

You are being paid for introducing the most devious piece of legislation in the history of PNG to keep this useless regime in power and render our judiciary powerless while pushing your filthy snouts into the trough. As long as the illegitimate government remains, you, all you scheming and plotting lawyers are feeding off like leeches from the coffers of this nation of 7 million people.

You are of no use to us. You have done nothing to advance PNG in any way. You are a bunch of useful idiots only to O’Neill and Namah, as long as they cling to power. You will run like rats when we rid the peoples’ house of these pretenders occupying the PNG Parliament. I think the incoming government should physically replace those seats in the peoples’ house and burn them as they are contaminated by thieving gangsters, wilful cargo-boys of dirty money laundering using state assets (Falcon), gamblers and womanisers.

Tiffany Twivey is a sad excuse of a human that got washed upon our shores. We know her hobby horse of late, the most frustrating exercise in PNG’s judicial history ever, an a*se of a litigation that delivered nothing to Basamuk landowners but grief and tears because she turned out to be a false messiah, a fake, who would not deliver as promised. She lost and lost badly. Tiffany has avenged herself by helping to draft laws to immobilise our judiciary because they put her in her place, for being a bore, a pain in the butt over the Ramu NiCo case.

The fallout from this case has spilled into wrecking the PNG judiciary courtesy of the political impasse where this woman freelanced her way into the O’Neill Namah camp and is destroying our Constitution because she obviously has an axe to grind with a home-grown professor of law who fearlessly defends the Constitution.

It would help immensely if the Australian government monitored the activities of Australian lawyers, other Australians otherwise as PNG naturalised citizens acting for the O’Neill ‘government’ and pull them into line. They are responsible for the recent law intended to cripple our judiciary and ill-advised the ‘government’ to defer the elections because why. Because, get this.

 These weasels have been paid in millions by the illegitimate government, and they have wrongly advised parliament to defer the elections for another 6 months, not because PNG is in trouble, nor is the Electoral Commission not prepared. NO sir. It is because these lawyers want to extend their time in the feeding trough for another 6 months, and probably more. These lawyers are the problem behind our big problem that is O’Neill the Spineless and Namah the Little Dick-tator.

It’s better to nip things in the bud than to wait for situations like Egypt, Libya and Syria to develop when it will be too late. It is time to act and the time is now.

Before Senator Carr calls for sanctions, he should take a good look at Australian lawyers advising the illegal PNG government; people like Tiffany Twivey who are undermining PNG’s judiciary and taking us to the brink of possible chaos, assassinations and bloodshed.

They are a direct threat to this fragile coalition of 800 independent cultures held together by our Constitution, mercilessly attacked by this motley crew of lawyers motivated by nothing except the peoples’ treasury and bruised egos. If this nation collapses, you could have a new tsunami of asylum seekers from the immediate north with more headaches for Canberra than what you are facing now.

Belden Namah speaks for himself with his mindless rants against the Australian government. He does not carry the wishes of the people of PNG. Our strong relationship with Australia and her people is not worth the spittle from this crazed nut who thinks the world revolves around him. The Namah/O’Neill ‘government’ and its bunch of low life advisers are a cancer that must go.

SANGUMA MAN

The Prime Minister has confirmed

The Prime Minister has confirmed that apart from deferral of the Election Writs by 21 days from April 27 to May 18, the actual date and duration of polling and Return of Writs remain as originally scheduled by the Chief Electoral Commissioner and PNG Electoral Commission.
Prime Minister O’Neill said the Election dates as scheduled by the Chief Electoral Commissioner and the PNG Electoral Commission are:
* Issue of Writs: May 18, 2012
* Close of Nominations: May 24,
* Polling Starts: June 23, 2012
* Return of Writs: July 27, 2012

UNION PROTEST

Unions in Papua New Guinea say they are about to organise industrial action and a disruption to services in the nation's capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Peter O'Neill.

Businesses in Port Moresby are being told to expect disruptions to water and electricity services, while public servants are being urged not to show up for work as part of the protest against the O'Neill government's desire to delay the 2012 elections by six months.

"There may be disruptions to communications, which can affect banking," said John Paska, general secretary of the Papua New Guinea Trade Union Congress, which covers 70,000 workers.

"There will be certain levels of disruption to services not necessarily tomorrow (Tuesday) alone, but until the government repeals the laws that are draconian, are undermining the constitution," he told AAP.

Mr Paska said the unions will organise a small protest outside parliament on Tuesday to hand a petition to the government.

He said both Mr O'Neill and Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah should resign after voting to suspend June 23 elections and for suspending the nation's chief Justice, Sir Salamo Injia.

The government says it voted to suspend the elections as a protest against the unreadiness of the common rolls in key Highlands electorates.

However Speaker Jeffery Nape has called on Electoral Commissioner Andrew Trawen, a staunch opponent of parliament's vote to delay elections, to obey parliament's will on the matter and agree to the delay.

The government has also passed a series of laws the critics say will limit the power of judges, including one that gives parliament the power to suspend a judge.

It has also introduced but not passed a seven-year jail term for any judge who ignores the suspension order.

That law is aimed squarely at Sir Salamo, who police sources say is currently being guarded by former soldiers and a small squad of police at his home in Port Moresby.

In early April the government voted to delay the June 23 election by six months, despite not having the constitutional power to do so.

After a massive public outcry, Mr O'Neill said the vote was only a protest and that elections will be held on time.

He's since changed his tune, and the government is now investigating the 2010 reappointment of Mr Trawen as electoral commissioner.

"He has to step up and perform his duties," Mr O'Neill said of Mr Trawen at Friday's launch of his People's National Congress election campaign.

"He has had five years to update the common roll. He's had five years to prepare for this election. "There are questions (about his appointment) that need to be answered."

Monday's Post Courier Newspaper carried a front page headline "PM: Polls is Oct 27", however the story only quotes Mr O'Neill attacking Mr Trawen's performance earlier that day on the floor of parliament.

Mr O'Neill is adamant PNG will go to the poll's "soon", however, and that the date is up to the electoral commissioner.

Mr Paksa isn't so sure.

"What we have at the moment is a government that is moving towards a dictatorial regime."

"All that needs to happen now is for them to formalise it."


AAP

Aussie Intelligence still flawed, PNG should fight for Constitution .

 AS ON TUESDAY
 Aussie intelligence Community aparatus is well and truely alive and swinging around  here to cover Julia Gillard's arse swinging in the wind!

Its not about blaming someone for our own mistakes, and mind you we have made a meal of it so far and I would be one of  the first ones to own up.

 However, to seek to down play this as a simple blame shifting exercise is to admit ones own ignorance of the Doctrine of (International) Recognition and its well established body of  rules that govern and determine dejure or defacto governments, and ultimately the question of legitimacy. To bury our heads in the sand and claim we unilaterally determine political outcomes in PNG is most absurd and pure garbage granted Australia's very active involvement in every facet of our public and private lives today.

Australia has over 14 intelligence desk officers and an army of other human intel- agents and sources  in various government and  commercial offices today.

My point is that with all these apparatus, they failed miserably to see the cul-de-sac they were backing themselves into, that would destroy this country's very fabric of legitimate government and its democracy, and the far reaching consequences on our Constitution, our Judiciary and on  international business.

Australia was testing our Judiciary to see if they will support it in recognition of O'Namah. One would argue that is a legitimate expectation on the part of Australia granted it finances ( $ Millions) the Judiciary and the greater Law & Justice Sector every year. It flies Judges and their wives around in Australia and overseas on judicial and law conferences and generally has built a very strong bond with them over the years.

So it is not altogether a mis-placed assumption for Julia Gillard and the Australian Government to expect some form of payback from the PNG Judiciary for their patronage. Infact so strong was Julia Gillard's faith in her money working  the  PNG Judiciary, that she even signed a string of Bi-Lateral Agreements with Peter ONeill in the first fortnight of his usurpation of power.

One of those Bi-Lateral Agreements was the re-instatement of the ECP Program, a Program that this very Supreme Court declared unconstitutional in 2004. Peter ONeill agreed to allow them back in to control the country, and Australia  knew that only the Supreme court can prevent it from assuming full control.

So any intelligent person can see that the smashing of this country's Constitution and the Judiciary are deliberate consequences  of Australia's recognition of O'Namah. These consequences Australia did weigh up, and did accept, as being collateral damage on its march to ultimate control of the country.

Australia in these machinations in reality failed its international obligations to other countries and their interests, let alone democracy for the people of PNG.

Now the situation would have been different if it didnt rush into recognition of this regime, and backed the Supreme Court and supported the rule of law in a democratic society. That would have been consistent with Australia's preaching in the Pacific so far about Law & Order and Law & Justice Sector Reforms etc that it pours Millions of Dollars into every year! [ Needless to say it books the Millions of Dollars in our name but spends it on itself].

Australia has been working so hard under the Law & Justice Sector Reforms to work with Judges and Magistrates about delivering quality justice to the people of PNG. That has been its very public posture.

However, on the 3rd of August 2011, Julia Gillard wiped all that public posturing off the face of PNG. That was all a lie they have been perpetuating in our midst. As soon as they could unilaterally strike a killer blow to the Political opposition in PNG by exercising one of the greatest weapons on International Diplomacy- Recognition!, they embraced it with both hands and Julia Gillard tucked her skirt and  ran to the aid of O'Namah. [And silly us for believing all that law & Order talk!]

  Australia has acheived its goal of destroying our Constitution and our Judiciary. The only thing that stands in the way are Papua New Guineans who love their country, who believe in the rule of law and the triumph of democracy, who believe in the Constitution and its institution of a fair and Independent Judiciary being the pillar of our democracy and a fair society.

 Papua New Guineans must stand up and prove Australia and O'Namah wrong today!
We must rise up and take ownership of our nation today!

O ARISE ALL YE SONS OF THIS LAND....LET US FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHT TO BE FREE!

INTEL-TAURAMA

Question raised over MCC claims on Ramu mine spill

Martyn Namorong

Questions are being raised over claims by the Chinese Miners [MCC] and their Australian Partner Highlands Pacific as to the accuracy of their claim that

“the spill did not involve  sulfuric acid as some locals have reported… sodium hydroxide is a much less caustic than the acid.”

Firstly, the statement by MCC Ramu Nico confuses the chemistry of both substances. SULFURIC ACID is a STRONG ACID and SODIUM HYDROXIDE (NaOH) is a STRONG BASE. They’re both equally “CAUSTIC”. It is therefore misleading to say that sodium hydroxide is less caustic.

The folks at MCC and Highlands Pacific can do a little chemistry lab experiment on whoever wrote that press statement to prove to us that NaOH “less caustic”.

A document that is publicly available on the Highlands Pacific website, states at page 7:

“A sulphuric acid plant producing 3,350 tonnes per day of 98.5% pure sulphuric acid will be installed to supply the acid requirements for the high pressure acid leach, lime boil and solvent extraction stages within the refinery. Feed stock for the plant, comprising some 360,000 tonnes of sulphur per annum will be supplied to the site by bulk shipping over the project dedicated deep water port. The acid plant will produce a large amount of steam, which will be efficiently utilised for various process heating requirements.”

According to an April 17th 2012 update by Highlands Pacific, load commissioning of the Ramu Mine project continues today. The update states:

“The mine commenced treating ore through one of the three high pressure autoclaves on 4 March 2012 and has now been operating continuously for 6 weeks with no major processing issues. In that time the process plant has treated 300,000 tonnes of slurried ore producing 486 tonnes of mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide intermediate product.”

What these two documents reveal is that a LARGE AMOUNT OF SULPHURIC ACID and limestone has been used by Ramu Nicco to treated 300, 000 tonnes of ore producing 486 tonnes of mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide.

Using Highlands Pacific’s formula of 0.2 tonnes of Sulphuric Acid per per tonne of dry ore, [0.2 tonnes Sulphuric acid X 300 000 tonnes ore] [found on page 6] we estimate that 60 0000 tonnes of Sulphuric Acid has been used during the Commissioning Stage since the 4th of March 2012.

Now, 60 000 tonnes of Sulphuric Acid is a lot of ACID for the Chinese to play with. Do you trust them when they say:

“the spill did not involve sulfuric acid as some locals have reported… sodium hydroxide is a much less caustic than the acid.”

Landowner Companies are not Landowners

By Andrew Lattas
My own experience of landowner companies in Papua New Guinea (in the Kaliai area and in Pomio where different forestry concessions operate) is that the local landowner company is often made up of different kinds of  villagers keen on development. Some are educated individuals who find the life of gardening hard and arduous, others can be remote villagers who are desperate for some roads, while other villagers are drawn in by the high cost of school fees and low cash crop prices. Many villagers who initially support logging can change sides once the project starts, when they see the poor quality of the roads and bridges, and the low royalty payments.

Generally the initiators of the project are locals who end up being financed by an overseas contractor (often RH). They will hunt for an interested contractor who is able to fund their legal, travel, accommodation and entertainment expenses whilst in town. The local member of parliament can also put a fair bit pressure on the directors to go with a contractor with which he has existing ties.

My experience has been that the landowner company generally receives a "premium" and even “advance” payments from the overseas logging company to cover its startup costs and its ongoing running “expenses.” The initiators of the project generally choose the directors and it is often on the basis of their ability to be complicit and silent with regard to the allocation of Premium money within the company. There are generally no minutes or records of how the money is used and this in turn serves to create an internal culture of solidarity, collaboration and collusion between directors. Some of the money is used to keep junior directors bound in relations of debt to the general manager and other key directors of the company who control the purse strings. Many directors in the landowner company can be illiterate or only able to read basic Pisin. They will be unable to read legal documents in English and, consequently, will depend heavily on educated directors for information. This will privilege certain individuals and groups within the landowner company, generally, those who have contacts with politicians and the government bureaucracy.

The Premium money that the landowner company receives from the overseas logging company is nominally to cover its expenses, but it also operates as gift that co-opts the directors and obligates them to the overseas contractor at the expense of their local ties to villagers. The landowner company is expected to manage public relations for the Malaysians. It is that the landowner company that should be seen publicly as calling in the riot squad to come and remove road blocks and to arrest those responsible. It is also expected to distribute covertly the necessary gifts to placate opposition and prevent organised protests.

In the Kaliai area, the contractor provided free trips to Malaysia for key landowner company directors for their “good work.” My experience of some of the Arawe directors on the south coast of West New Britain is that "gifts" from the contractor plus a popular critique of the corruption and inefficiency of state development, can generate fierce loyalty by some directors to the overseas contractor. The local landowner directors (especially at the start of the project) can be effective in mobilising people’s discontent with state officials and institutions.

The directors of the landowner company are not so much elected as chosen by each other largely through their perceived ability to work together, that is, to be on side and unquestioning of the key director and the overseas contractor. Some times they are local big men or clan leaders but more often they can claim in a token way to represent certain key clans or areas. Meetings are rare and not advertised, and if votes are held in the local landowner company, they are to ratify agreements achieved beforehand through other means. The overseas logging company can play a key role (through money and legal means) in empowering certain directors so that they become the managers and spokesmen for the landowner company. The end aim is that the local landowner company operates as the public relations arm for the foreign contractor in its interface with the wider public, and also with local villagers. The latter involves producing a process of divide and rule whereby Melanesians confront each other over their support and opposition to logging. This serves partly to undercut the transformation of economic conflicts into forms of racial conflict between Melanesians and Malaysians.

Above all the local landowner company is not the landowners.

As the project proceeds, the landowner company can meet increased opposition and criticism from local villagers. It does not take villagers long to recognise that the directors are not operating for the public benefit but are a privileged group looking after themselves. The directors in turn recognise that strong local opposition means that the project might have a limited term and so some directors can then choose to operate on the basis of needing to get whatever they can as quickly as they can. This generally means subordinating themselves to the most powerful and wealthiest participant, the overseas contractor, who demands quick solutions to local disputes that disrupt production and the export of logs. The two main ways of ending disruptive disputes are intimidation through the riot squad or through strategic gifts of money, goods, and jobs to key opponents so as to compromise and co-opt them.

My experience of landowner companies is that they use an ideology of democratic representation and nationalism to perpetuate some of the most exploitative relations on behalf of foreign companies. They are a scam that siphons off money that might otherwise go to villagers, and instead the landowner company looks after key local players, namely, politicians, local big men and vocal opponents who are bought off by the landowner company’s gifts. The landowner company can also use its substantial financial resources, motor vehicles, boats and personnel to become powerful political brokers at election time. This is now the looming threat in Pomio where the existing member who is being investigated for corruption has been a strong supporter of logging, oil palm development and the appropriation of land through lease-lease back agreements

Parliament Fiddles While the Peoples Frustration Burns

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As the donkeys continue to fiddle with our laws, the people’s frustration continues to burn. Whether or not the public protest last week was successful or not remains to be seen, but what it clearly highlighted in the way it was rapidly organised over an Easter weekend (when most families are in church), was that the public really is getting frustrated with this time warped legislating circus. Here are some examples for your studying pleasure:

• National Parliament Notice Paper_Wednesday 18 April 2012
• Parliamentary Powers and Privleges (Amendment) Bill 2012
• Supreme Court (Amendment) Bill 2012_Minister Speech
• Supreme Court (Amendment) Bill 2012
• Judicial Conduct (Amendment) Act 2012
• Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill 2012

More angst in the community can also be seen in the recent in-fighting amongst the police. Yet another example of a leadership that is bringing out the worst in all of us.
So how did it all go wrong? When the O’Namah government came into power there was immense support for them, by the simple fact that they were finally saying what we wanted to hear. Finally, we all though that the policies that really mattered like education, infrastructure, health and so on would be put on priority.
With such record approval rates, why did they begin tampering with our laws? There is nothing wrong with amendmenst to laws or introducung new Acts of Parliament, this is of course one of the great functions of our adopted Westminster system. However we do have to ask what greater good each amendment or new act brings to society.
As with any country that has a written charter for its government, where else do you turn to but to your Constitution. Specifically within our Constitution is our National Goals and Directive Principles (forget Vision 2050 and all that rubbish). I won’t go through the whole body of text that comprises the National Goals and Directive Principles, (you can read it for yourself with explanations on its origins here), but I will say that if those goals and principles are not the guiding light for these amendments and bills, then what is motivating them?
Fundamentally and on an absolute personal level, what does O’Namah hope to achieve? They have already lost the publics support, they are slowly losing the International community’s approval, they are testing the patience of the private sector and all for what purpose?
My advice to them would be that they say they’re sorry, drop all their bills and put all their efforts into running the best elections this country in the Pacific has ever seen. This would at least maintain some integrity for them because the more they fiddle to stay in the big house, the more likely that house is going fall on them as the fire rages around them.

Amendments can be dangerous

Amendments can be dangerous

SIR Michael T Somare’s unbroken nine years in office were the best in terms of economic gains for the country, but flimsy on translation of gains into tangible benefits for the people.

At the height of its tenure with K6 billion parked in trust accounts outside of consolidated revenue, all the major highways of the country remained in desperate need of maintenance, health facilities were running out of drugs and schools were shutting their doors to students.

So much so that when the O’Neill-Namah regime muscled its way into office in August last year, the PNG public so welcomed the change that it was most willing to forgive the new government its very first and most crucial error – that of violating the Constitution to get into power.

Ever since then, this government has never had any opposition except through its own actions.
Laws were passed to correct the Aug 2 error and new laws were passed to snuff out the ripple effects of those acts and so on and so forth.

One more such act was passed by parliament yesterday, called the Supreme Court (Amendment) Act 2012, and made retrospective to take effect from Dec 9 last year.

Section 41 of the principle act was amended by adding a second paragraph, which reads: “2. The Rules of the Court made pursuant to Section 184 of the Constitution and Section 41(1) of this Act shall not be inconsistent with the following minimum requirements, where any proceeding before the Supreme Court invokes the powers of the Supreme Court to give an opinion under Sections 18(1) and 19 of the Constitution and where the rights, powers and privileges of the referring authority is not in issue, the Court shall not have the power to make

(a) Consequential orders; or
(b) (b) interim injunctive reliefs and orders in the nature of prerogative writs; or
(c) (ca) order for security for costs; or
(d) (d) order in the nature of orders such as are referred to in Section 8(1)(qa), (b), and (c) of the Act.”

Lawyers will know what all the above means. For the layman, all it means is that the order made by the Supreme Court on Dec 12, in relation to Supreme Court reference (SCR) 3 of 2011 in addition to other orders that “Sir Michael Somare is restored to office as prime minister forthwith” is now null and void by the operation of yesterday’s amendment.

This is because the order (no.6) of the Supreme Court is a consequential order and, therefore, violates yesterday’s amendment directly.
The other effect of the act is that Supreme Court originating summonses are now outlawed as there is no form or procedure prescribed or legislative mandate.

Therefore, by operation of the amended act also, the originating summonses which have been the basis for contempt of court proceedings in the current constitutional cases against senior politicians such as Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah and Attorney-General Dr Allan Marat will now have to be discontinued.

In the words of the prime minister, this is necessary so the court does not make ad hoc changes in future to affect parties to their detriment without proper notice.

Many who heard of this act also heard metaphorically another nail go thud in the coffin of democracy.
A blogger described these moves as the “end of democracy and the beginning of dictatorship” and opined that under the new rules, criticising government could be deemed as treason.

We do not feel dictatorship has descended upon the nation. Some changes are necessary and even institutions, which have been held to be sacrosanct such as the judiciary, need some shake-up from time to time to ensure they do not grow too comfortable and, therefore, careless or too bloated on its own power.
But we caution that toying with the law too much, and particularly without adequate debate, is discourteous of the people and dangerous. Making retrospective laws also puts to shame the very principle itself and opens the door to correct all mistakes or haul off political enemies to court on a whim merely by makings laws take effect retrospectively.

What is to stop the next government, if the present coalition were not returned, reverse all the decisions of this parliament and then some of its own by making the same retrospective laws?
Unless and until that door is closed through legislation, the danger will always be there.

Why Should Exxon deny PNG LNG shooting ?

On the 5^th of April, LNG Watch reported on an alleged fatal shooting at PNG LNG’s Tamadigi camp, after receiving testimony from local workers. Since that post Exxon have publicly denied that the worker was shot-dead by a RPNGC Mobile-Squad unit (no mention has been made of the injured worker, featuring a gaping head wound).

Recently we returned to the PNG News Page (Facebook) post, where a worker at the camp  broke the story with photos, this is the message we received:

So be it. We are now told by Exxon’s spokesperson that the cause of the worker’s death is unknown, moreover, at this stage the company is only prepared to acknowledge a security incident occurred; its nature remains a closely guarded secret.

However, we are promised by Exxon that an inquiry will take place. If you just had a moment of déjà vu, thats because we heard the same thing in January when a landslide killed dozens of people from the villages of Tumbi and Tumbiago. 

In the aftermath of this fatal event – when all eyes were on Exxon’s local quarry – the National Disaster Centre focused its resources on clearing an arterial road blocked by the landslide. As a result, relatives were forced to dig by hand for their loved ones.

Desperate families dig for their loved ones at Tumbi

As families dug amongst the rubble Exxon and the government built a new road so that PNG LNG construction work could proceed at pace. The road was built over the top of the buried bodies, leaving family members in a state of shock (Mobile Squads and the PNGDF were there to 'keep the peace').

The road built over the top of bodies buried at Tumbi

And what about that Inquiry that was promised to the landslide victims by Prime Minister O’Neil, and members of his Cabinet. It, of course, never happened. Now those displaced by the landslide live in tents with no sense of closure. Others, whose homes were not destroyed, continue to reside in dangerous proximity to an unstable area. 

Given the lessons of Tumbi, there are credible reasons to be concerned over the current inquiry into the  fatal incident at Tamadigi camp.

 

 

 

 

This worker suffered injuries, when a bullet grazed his head.

The incidents origins, however, lie in a wider dispute between the local landowning community and PNG LNG (operated by Esso Highlands Ltd, the PNG subsidiary of ExxonMobil.

Gas Extraction Fuels Abuse in Papua New Guinea

By Catherine Wilson (Inter Press Service)

GOROKA, Apr 16, 2012 (IPS) - Papua New Guinea’s infamous track record on gender-based violence – with an estimated 75 percent of women and children experiencing some form of violence, primarily domestic abuse – is poised to worsen. 

A Highlands-based non-governmental organisation is warning that unless the government takes immediate action to prevent the risk of increased cash flows from the nation’s largest resource extraction project, which is escalating alcohol consumption and eroding family cohesion, violence against women and girls will very likely increase.

Construction of the 15 billion dollar PNG LNG Project is underway at a gas production and processing site near Tari, Hela Province, in the Highlands, and at liquefaction and storage plant on the south coast of Central Province, 15 kilometres from the capital, Port Moresby.

The joint venture between Esso Highlands, a subsidiary of Exxon Mobil; Papua New Guinea’s National Petroleum Company; Mineral Resources Development Company; Petromin PNG Holdings and international partners JX Nippon; Oil Search and Santos, is expected to double the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Approximately 8,000 Papua New Guineans nationwide are employed in the preliminary construction phase. According to local sources in the Eastern Highlands, there have been many cases of men leaving employment in public service sector jobs in the province to work for the gas project. After leaving their families to move to project sites, many entered into relationships with other women.

John Ericho, executive director of the Eastern Highlands Family Voice, which addresses social issues including family and sexual violence, warned that the mass migration of male workers and increased circulation of cash from the joint venture will bring social problems.

"Polygamy levels will increase as more money for men means they can afford more wives," Ericho said. "Desertion and neglect will result as men leave their spouses for younger women. Women will also leave their spouses for men with money."

"These issues create the environment for domestic violence and abuse," he continued. "Husbands may fight with their wives if they ‘interfere’ with their relationships with other women, and wives fight with co-wives."

The majority of cases that Family Voice receives involve domestic violence, with 80 percent of clients being women, 10 percent men and 10 percent children. The main causes of domestic violence are rivalry associated with polygamy, adultery and management of money within families, with alcohol a major contributing factor.

"Other issues like HIV/AIDS, which is already an epidemic, may get worse," Ericho warned. "Children, through child abuse and neglect, will be the greatest losers. Their problems are inter-generational with anti-social behaviour and attitudes resurfacing later in life."

Oxfam recently commissioned the LNG Impact Listening Project to gain insight into people’s experiences of the resource extraction project and assist communities to mitigate negative social impacts. The project found that "people thought too much of the money earned from PNG LNG Project employment was spent on alcohol."

"The young men who are being employed are not using their wages in the right manner. They get drunk every weekend from Friday to Sunday night, even Monday morning," reported some participants, adding, "There is adultery at the site. Back at the village, drugs and alcohol, but adultery is the worst problem (as well as) problems with broken marriages. Not much is done to tackle this."

In Papua New Guinean society, customary land owned by clans and their members is the main measure of wealth and status and provides livelihoods for future generations. In contrast, the development of the country’s cash economy is a relatively new phenomenon.

Roseanne Koko, senior counsellor at Eastern Highlands Family Voice, described how the combination of money and polygamy created conditions for domestic abuse.

"Husbands go out with other wives or mistresses, the money disappears and then the mother or wife don’t have money to feed the children," Koko explained, "In some cases, children and mothers go without food because the husband is doing something else."

Alcohol fuels violence

"Men go out drinking, they come home and their wives will ask ‘where have you been?’" Koko told IPS. Such confrontations generally spark violent altercations.

Last year, the report ‘Hidden and Neglected’, produced by the humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (or Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF), revealed the severity of domestic and sexual violence in the town of Tari, near the LNG project site in the Highlands.

MSF reported 99 percent of survivors of family and partner violence retained physical injuries. In the case of sexual violence, 65 percent of cases were at risk of HIV/AIDS, 15 percent involved two or more perpetrators, while 74 percent of all cases involved children under the age of 18 years and 56 percent were children under the age of 12 years.

A spokesperson for Esso Highlands said plans to address domestic violence as a potential social impact of its operations include supporting the Law and Justice Sector’s Alcohol Abuse Symposium and establishing a policy advisory group on alcohol abuse in Papua New Guinea. The company facilitates Personal Viability Training to assist people in project communities to improve livelihoods, manage social problems and budget for family needs.

"The project also conducts marital relationships training for participants in project areas with the support of Population Services International, an NGO that is helping to reduce alcohol consumption, episodes of gender-based violence, concurrent partnerships, and increase school attendance," Esso Highlands claimed.

But Ericho believes the government will need to prepare for a potential rise in domestic violence by better resourcing the Department of Community Development - the national body tasked with addressing the issue - and the police force, while simultaneously funding social NGOs to assist government agencies, and improving the health system.

During her visit to PNG in March this year, United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, also highlighted the critical need for improvements to the criminal justice system to enable greater access to justice for women and girls suffering from family and sexual violence.

Equally important, according to Ericho, are long term preventive strategies, including funding the education department to raise the literacy level of the population from 50 to 100 percent during the next 20 years.

The Department of Community Development in Eastern Highlands Province said that meetings with the national government to discuss social issues connected with the PNG LNG Project were planned for after the national election in June.

Experimental Seabed Campaign goes regional with a launch of "20,000 signatures" initiative

Experimental Seabed Campaign goes regional with a launch of "20,000 signatures" initiative

Posted by Effrey

ACT NOW! recently launched a email action addressed to Pacific Island Leaders, requesting an end to experimental seabed mining in the region. The basis for the concern was in relation to the environmental and social sustainability issue surrounding this "first of it's kind" mining and it's long term impact on coastal communities. 

Last week, ACT NOW! extended this campaign as more Pacific islands governments have began issuing licenses to foreign companies, to undertake this potentially destructive mining activity. Our aim is to obtain 20,000 signatures in the lead up to Pacific Heads of States meeting in the Cook Islands. We need your support to spread the message and gather in the signatures of concerned peoples of the Pacific.

Attached to this blog article is the paper petition. Please collect signatures from your friends, relatives and send us copies of the signature pages to info@actnowpng.org or post to ACT NOW!, P.O Box 5218, Boroko, NCD.

Please note also that in order to assist us to publicly acknowledge your contribution towards this campaign, please state your name and address on the signature page, and send to us by 31st July 2012.

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Highlands Pacific denies reports of slurry pipeline closure

Highlands Pacific has denied reports that the slurry pipeline connecting the mine and process plant at the controversial Ramu nickel cobalt mine in Madang had been shut, reports The National.

Highlands Pacific managing director John Gooding said yesterday reports circulated on a PNG mining blog site that the slurry pipeline connecting the mine and process plant had been shut were untrue.

“Such inaccurate reports are false and extremely frustrating,” Gooding said.
“Such articles on these websites are often mischievous, misleading and not based on facts.”

Gooding said the company’s announcements through the Australian Stock Exchange, Port Moresby Stock Exchange and the reputable media were the best avenues for factual information regarding this world-class mine.

“The issue with the movement in the slurry pipeline occurred some months ago due to a landslide and work in preventing further landslides has been ongoing as have inspections by PNG regulatory authorities,” Gooding said.

He said the mine was continuing with load commissioning of the first of three autoclave circuits.

“The mine started treating ore through one of the three high pressure autoclaves on March 4, and has now been operating continuously for six weeks with no major processing issues. During that time, the process plant has treated 300,000 tonnes of slurried ore producing 486 tonnes of mixed nickel cobalt hydroxide intermediate product”.

Gooding said this was a very good start for the project although there was still a long way to go to reach the goal of full ramp-up.

“The successful operation of the first autoclave has given the commissioning team a lot of very useful information and confidence that will assist with the start of the second and third autoclaves,” he said.
“By the end of this month, the autoclave currently operating is planned to be shut down for inspection and the second autoclave circuit started while working with approval from and in conjunction with the relevant PNG regulatory authorities. This shut down and start up will occur at the same time to ensure continuity of production”.

Reforming the PNG Parliament

By Paul Oates
Recent events in the life of the present PNG Parliament have revealed some glaring deficiencies in the framework set up to take the nation into Independence in 1975.
In an observationquoted by Nancy Reagan, the wife of former US President Ronald Reagan, ‘the strength of the tea bag is only revealed when it’s immersed in hot water.’
So what are the deficiencies that have been revealed? Basically, many could be collectively described as a lack of the necessary checks and balances in place to ensure parliamentary power and legislative government does not get out of control.
In fairness to the so called founding fathers and their expat ‘minders’, the recent circumstances could hardly have been envisaged when the PNG Constitution was drafted.  Yet as PNG has had the resilience to advance from the Stone Age to the Modern Age in one giant leap, so too must the structures of government be adapted to meet the requirements of the day.
The majority of democratic nations throughout the world seem to have one thing in common. That is a House of Review as part of the structure of Parliament. While legislation is debated and enacted in a Lower House, all legislation must be reviewed by an Upper House before being signed into law.
Such is the case in many Commonwealth countries that had their Parliaments modelled on the Westminster system. After many amendments, the United Kingdom’s House of Lords still has a useful function of reviewing legislation from the House of Commons. The Australian Senate performs some very useful functions in that until a Bill from the Lower House is reviewed and passed by the Senate, it cannot be signed by the Governor General and become law.
Perhaps the time has now come for PNG to consider creating an Upper House of Review?
George Washington is supposed to have observed to Thomas Jefferson, another ‘doubting Thomas’ about the necessity of having an Upper House in the United States government. As Jefferson tipped his hot tea into his saucer to cool it, Washington is supposed to have observed, so too an Upper House (in this case the US Senate) performs a similar function with potentially inflammatory matters raised in the US Lower House or Congress.
There is however some conjecture about whether Washington actually said these words since apparently no one has ever seen this written quote until the late 19^th Century when it was common place to tip your hot cup of tea or coffee into your saucer to cool it. In fact, the expression, ‘would you like a dish of tea’? originates from this practice. One can only cringe in sympathy with generations of hostesses who had to put up with the inevitable slurping of those guests who tried to drink their tea from their saucers, a receptacle actually designed for holding sauce.
The term ‘Bicameral’ refers to a government that has two chambers. The term apparently originated in the early 19^th Century from the Latin ‘bi’ meaning two and ‘camer’(a or al) meaning chamber. The alternative is a single chamber of government or unicameral system.
While there is conjecture as to the efficiency of having a legislature comprised of two houses, the concept has been around since Ancient Roman times where the recognised tendency of the larger plebeian class could be tempered by the patrician Senate, a word reputedly derived from ‘senex’ or old man.
Most nations around the world have opted from a bicameral system of government. The map from Wikipedia below gives an indication of those nations that have bicameral government and those that don’t.

So how could an Upper House of Review be brought into being? Very easily.
Consider the Provincial Governors as a collective group of reviewers. Several have already raised their concerns about the current government and the speed by which Parliamentary votes appear to become law seemingly overnight. Why not determine that at the next general election, the Provincial governors be separated from the ordinary members of Parliament and become instead, a separate house of review as is the Australian Senate.
How would this work in practice?
Well, for one thing, I’m sure the incoming Provincial Governors wouldn’t mind a new title of say, ‘Senator’, a title not unknown and respected throughout much of the world.
Then the powers of the PNG ‘Senate’ could be modelled on similar powers elsewhere.
All legislation must first be reviewed and debated in the PNG Senate before being sent to the PNG Governor General for signing into law. Perhaps there could be a limit, as in Australia, where the Upper House can refer a draft Bill back to the Lower House three times before it must be passed and ultimately become an Act.
Surely this proposal is worthy of consideration from all sides of politics?

Govt determined to pursue missing Woodlawn millions

By Todagia Kelola
THE new Board of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Limited (MVIL) has been able to recoup only K9 million out of the K100 million that was [fraudulently] invested in Australia.
Chairman of the Board Bonny Igime in a statement said out of the fraudulent K100 million investment that the MVIL made with Woodlawn Capital Ltd of Lismore, NSW Australia was executed on July 22, 2009, my Board has manage to recoup only K9,187, 260 back into PNG. The money is now with the Gadens Lawyers Trust Account in Port Moresby waiting to be remitted back into MVIL.

“When the Government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill appointed me as Chairman of MVIL I assured the nation that I will vigorously pursue the K100 million being siphoned off into Australia and bring it back into PNG. The money rightly belongs to the 7 million people of this country, who own MVIL through the government, and the people have the right to know what has happened to their money.”

In late February this year Mr Igime took the Board and management to Australia and met with the executives of Woodlawn Capital Ltd in Brisbane.

“We asked Woodlawn executives where they kept the money and what is the current net asset value (NAV) of the investment. Woodlawn kept evading our questions and came up with an excuse that a substantial amount of MVIL investment was lost during the global financial crisis a few years ago. We didn’t buy into their argument. We suspected that something was seriously wrong with the investment and that we must independently investigate and find out soon. Coincidently, at about the same time the former CEO of MVIL John Mua called me on numerous occasions and begged me not to bring the money back to PNG. He said the money was safe in Australia and that MVIL has a lot of liquid cash sitting in the banks in Port Moresby and does not need the K100 million. That’s when my sensitive nature tells me that something is seriously wrong with the investment and we must investigate.”
The Board engaged Gadens Lawyers in Sydney and Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC) accounting firm to conduct a thorough investigation into all the accounts of Woodlawn Capital in Australia and ascertain the net asset value of the investment. With our instructions Gadens Lawyers successfully obtained an interlocutory order in the New South Wales Supreme Court thus freezing all the accounts of Woodlawn. The Supreme Court order effectively froze all the accounts of Woodlawn being kept by various financial institutions in Australia.

He said their forensic accountants conducted an audit into the frozen accounts and uncovered AUS$24 million being kept in those accounts, which is equivalent to K50 million. The K50 million plus the K9 million already brought into the country amounted to K59 million. The question is, what happen to the balance of K41 million?

The investigations have uncovered a shocking truth that Woodlawn Capital at the time it received the money from MVIL was not licenced to conduct business as a financial investment company. Woodlawn did not hold a valid Financial Services License (FSL) under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). This is indeed a serious crime under the Australian laws. ASIC is the Australian government watchdog that regulates, monitors and oversees all financial and investment activities in Australia. The K100 million investment was a fraudulent transaction between the executives of MVIL and Woodlawn with the intent to defraud MVIL because Woodlawn was not licensed to receive the money at the time.

The investigations have uncovered another shocking truth that some people were using the K100 million like a petty cash. Numerous unexplained withdrawals were made on the K100 million over the entire period of the investment from July 2009 to as recent as January 2012.

For instance, the following withdrawals were made on MVIL accounts in Australia in 2011 and early 2012.
BANK ACCOUNT NO.   DATE   CURRENCY   WITHDRAWAL AMOUNT
Westpac   467559   5/5/2011 AU$ 1,500,000
Westpac   467559   30/6/2011   AU$ 2,000,000
Westpac   467567   8/7/2011     AU$ 300,000
Westpac   467559   14/7/2011    AU$ 300,000
Westpac   467567   14/7/2011    AU$ 300,000
Westpac   467559   16/8/2011    AU$ 3,000,000
Suncorp   4157414  15/9/2011    PGK 24,872,335
Westpac   467559   21/9/2011    AU$ 1,000,000
Westpac   467559   27/9/2011    AU$ 1,197,540
Westpac   467559   14/11/2011   AU$ 227,000
Westpac   467559   13/1/2012     AU$ 440,142

According to correspondences between the executives of MVIL and Woodlawn we have uncovered that the former CEO of MVIL John Mua was the only authorized representative of MVIL who can authorize or instruct Woodlawn for any transactions to be conducted on the accounts in Australia. And therefore, I am calling on John Mua to come out and tell the Government and the people of PNG about the irregular and unexplained withdrawals made on the K100 million being kept by Woodlawn. Our lawyers and forensic accountants are following the money trail and we will get to the bottom of the missing K41 million and the nation will know about it.

Govt determined to pursue missing Woodlawn millions

Statement by  Minister for Public Enterprises Rt Hon Mekere Morauta, KCMG MP

Mr Speaker, when the O’Neill-Namah Government was elected on the floor of Parliament last year, we faced a tremendous task of reconstruction and reform after 10 years of waste, neglect and lost opportunity. I have spoken previously about the areas where this waste and neglect, and indeed corruption, was most prevalent and caused the most damage – in the State Owned Enterprises supervised by the Independent Public Business Corporation under the stewardship of the suspended Member for Angoram and his outrigger Mr Glen Blake who during that time claimed to be (and probably still is) the Somare family financial adviser.
Since we were elected in August last year, much of the focus of my efforts, as Minister for State Enterprises, has been on finding out how big a mess the State Owned Enterprises are in; and where they have lost money, how that money was lost, where the money went to, and to try to get as much of that lost money back as we can.
Mr Speaker, this is public money we are talking about, which should have been used for the benefit of all Papua New Guineans, building roads and bridges, schools and hospitals, but which instead has been frittered away, wasted, lost through incompetence, or in some cases, simply stolen.
We quickly discovered that one of the worst State Owned Enterprises in this respect was Motor Vehicle Insurances Limited, which we all know as MVIL. Mr Speaker, MVIL has a vital function within government and as the third party motor vehicle insurer, it must maintain large financial reserves in order to pay out insurance claims for years into the future.
This made MVIL a tempting target for highly dubious so-called “investment managers” from overseas to extract a large slice of MVIL’s investment funds, 96 million kina, and place that money at the disposal of these “investment managers”, initially in a bank account in a New South Wales country town. Regrettably, Mr Speaker, the “investment managers”, Woodlawn Capital Pty Ltd, appear to have been ably assisted by the then Managing Director of MVIL, Dr John Mua, in their endeavours to extract money from MVIL.
When this 96 million kina was “invested” with Woodlawn in July 2009, Woodlawn Capital Pty Ltd had been incorporated for only a few weeks; it was a classic “two dollar company” – that is, it has a paid up share capital of only two, one dollar shares; it did not hold any financial services licence which, under Australian law, every such investment manager must have; and it had no other funds under investment.
It would seem ridiculous for any rational businessman to invest any funds, let alone 96 million kina, with such a company with no history, no backing and no licences, but that is what Dr Mua and MVIL did in 2009.
Mr Speaker, this has not been an easy task, but we are not giving up. And unfortunately, in this we have not always been assisted by everyone at MVIL.
We required Woodlawn to repatriate the total funds to PNG and terminate the investment arrangement, but we received nothing but obfuscation, delay and a refusal even to give us the most basic information about how much of the original investment of 96 million kina is left, or where the funds may be held.
We have complained to the corporate regulator in Australia, ASIC, about Woodlawn’s actions in claiming to hold an Australian Financial Services licence when it did not, and dealing with investment monies when unlicensed. These are clear breaches of Australian securities law.
Mr Speaker, we had been most concerned that all or nearly all of the 96 million kina invested with Woodlawn over two years ago may have been lost. A couple of months ago it appeared that Woodlawn was suggesting it would return only a few million dollars, perhaps only 10 or 15 percent of the original investment , to MVIL. It would be a sad day for Papua New Guinea if we were to lose about 80 million kina to crooked investment advisers overseas – money which should be available for the benefit of the people of PNG and improving their living standards. This is the sad legacy of the Somare regime’s years of waste, neglect and corruption.
However, Mr Speaker, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. With the totally un-cooperative approach from Woodlawn, we had no option but to instruct our legal advisers in New South Wales to commence legal proceedings against Woodlawn and its two directors, McNamara and Breen, to recover the money they had illegally obtained.
Following the institution of legal proceedings, I have now been informed that the New South Wales Supreme Court ordered the remaining MVIL investment portfolio frozen, so Woodlawn and its directors cannot deal with those funds, and Woodlawn has been required to give full information about the current value of the MVIL investments managed by Woodlawn.
While this may sound positive, it is not all goods news. Legal action is expensive, and it is possible, or likely, that more legal action will need to be taken before we get our money back. Also, while we do not yet know precisely how much money is left, it seems that it could be somewhat less than 30 million Australian dollars, which would mean a loss of about one quarter of the original investment two and a half years ago, since 96 million kina then equalled about 40 million Australian dollars.
Of course we are not conceding that this money is necessarily lost – we will do everything we can to pursue Woodlawn for the full value of our investment and the damages we have suffered, but we obviously do not know yet how successful we will be.
This MVIL saga is, Mr Speaker, another example of the Somare regime’s scandalous misuse of public funds – not as newsworthy, but just as bad in its own way, as the Falcon jet fiasco. The people of Papua New Guinea deserve better, and we are making sure they get better than that, by making these most strenuous efforts to get back this money which has been extracted from the public purse.

Pollies manipulating us: PNG police

Papua New Guinea's Police Commissioner says politicians are splitting the force for their own ends, after policemen were attacked by colleagues in Port Moresby.

Commander Tom Kulunga made the comments on Tuesday after spending most of the day in crisis talks with officers in Port Moresby.

The day before six members of the Central Highway patrol were reportedly attacked by as many as 70 other police officers in a seemingly politically motivated attack.

"Let me voice my deepest concerns about the direct involvement of politicians in dividing the (Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary) RPNGC for their own ends," Mr Kulunga said, without naming names.

"It is no secret that certain politicians are providing funding and hire vehicles for certain elements of the RPNGC who are operating outside of my command and control."

The attacking officers were allegedly members of four police divisions flown from Mount Hagen to Port Moresby during the recent failed coup attempt in January.

"They were screaming `which government are you serving,'" officer Murray Nai'o told The Post Courier newspaper.

He said they were brought from Gordon to nearby Boroko police station, stripped and made to lie on the floor, before being accused of being part of a formally rogue unit that supported Sir Michael Somare when he tried to return to office late last year.

The attack has also been condemned by the PNG Trade Union Congress (PNGTUC).

"We condemn the violence perpetrated on Port Moresby policemen by the Hagan based policemen. It is completely unacceptable, inexcusable and intolerable," PNGTUC general secretary John Paska said.

"It appears their actions are being dictated by political directives from the Peter O'Neill government."

He also called on the Hagen-based police to be disarmed.

The incident follows a near-miss outside parliament house last week when tempers flared between police officers and soldiers reportedly dressed as civilians.

Angered by calls of "who are you guarding" by the soldiers, a policeman drew his gun, sparking a brief standoff between the men before superiors intervened.

The latest police incident is just one facet of PNG's almost liquid political landscape.

On Tuesday the government introduced two amendments to its controversial Judicial Conduct bill which will send a judge, who ignores a parliamentary suspension order, to jail for seven years, stripping them of their retirement entitlements.

A judge who sits on the bench with a suspended colleague will suffer the same fate, according to the bill.

There are currently two Supreme Court judges in PNG who fit that criteria - Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia and Justice Nicholas Kerriwom.

Parliament ordered their suspension two weeks ago.

But AAP has been told by political and police sources that Sir Salamo is being protected by rogue police officers and former servicemen who have surrounded his home.

One PNG LNG worker dead another injured, after Mobile Squads use live ammunition

The deceased, a PNG LNG worker from Tari

Details are emerging about a shooting which took place on 3 April, at a PNG LNG camp in Moro.

The victims were not in fact landowners, but two PNG LNG workers.

According to posts by a local resident, the two workmen - one from Tari and the other Poroma - were discussing recent landowner protests. The landowners had been asking ExxonMobil for a greater share of project benefits, including employment, business spin-offs and community development, like water supply. ExxonMobil, it is claimed, rejected these demands.

Mobile Squad officers ordered the PNG LNG workers to stop debating the landowner issue, as it served to  reinforce the claims of local residents. The workmen challenged the Mobile Squad officers and a fight broke out.

The Mobile Squad officers employed tear gas and live ammunition. The workman from Tari was shot and died on the spot, while the Poromo workers suffered minor injuries when a bullet grazed his head.

Truckloads of Taris are heading to the project site to hold a Haus Krai for their relative, it is expected that a compensation demand will be issued. As a result, the site has gone into lockdown.

It is reported that Mobile Squad reinforcements have been flown to Moro on two chartered planes. They are 'armed to the teeth'.

We will post any more updates as they come to hand. It must be stressed these are only preliminary reports,  the exact details have yet to be confirmed.

O'NAMAH BACK FLIPS ON ELECTION. Bull Crap From The Government ?

O'NAMAH BACK FLIPS ON ELECTION...CALLS FOR EARLY ELECTIONS

 

In a statement released  (Saturday), Mr O'Neill said parliament was not fully briefed on election preparations and did not have his authorisation.

 "The Electoral Commissioner's brief to me dated April 2 did not recommend deferral of elections. All effort must be made to assure security and integrity of the elections," he said.

 PNG's parliament voted 63-11 on Thursday to defer the mid-year elections for six months after hearing a report that preparations were inadequate.

 Cabinet is expected to meet on Monday to review election preparations ahead of Tuesday's sitting of parliament, where the decision to defer elections is likely to be reversed.

 On Friday, Papua New Guinea warned other countries, particularly Australia, not to interfere in its internal affairs.

 Perhaps in anticipation of an international backlash, deputy prime minister Belden Namah warned other countries not to interfere.

 He singled out Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr who floated, then later retracted, the idea of imposing sanctions on Papua New Guinea if elections were delayed.

 "Whatever Mr Bob Carr says about sanctions, I want to say this: do not threaten the independence of this country," Mr Namah said.

 Mr Carr says Australia is disappointed about the election delay, but is not considering sanctions at the moment.

 He says Australia and New Zealand have already agreed to provide substantial support for the poll.

 "In my view it would not be productive to be talking about sanctions at this time," he said.

 "Questions are being raised in Papua New Guinea about the constitutionality of this decision, those questions will need to be resolved by the country itself.

 "We respect Papau New Guinea's sovereignty and we'd like to see this decision reviewed."

 In a statement, Prime Minister Julia Gillard made no mention of sanctions but maintained Australia believed the elections should be held on time.

 "While we respect Papua New Guinea's sovereignty, as a strong supporter and long-time friend of Papua New Guinea, Australia believes the elections should be held on time, in accordance with the constitution," she said.

 "Papua New Guinea's democracy has to date had a good record of holding elections on time."

ABC