The NASFUND Board is aware of various articles posted on the blog site, PNG BLOGS and now being circulated via e mail which are factually incorrect, malicious in nature and defamatory.
The articles are not only a serious attack on the integrity of the NASFUND Board and management it is a mischievous attempt to create confusion and instability amongst the contributors of NASFUND.
The author of these articles has used the cloak of anonymity aided by the named website in perpetrating this cowardly and criminal smear campaign.
An investigation to establish the identities of the persons involved is ongoing and a reward of K 50,000.00 is now offered for information leading to the identification, arrest and prosecution of both the author of the articles and the persons responsible for publishing it on this blog or any general media.
All information received shall be treated confidentially and should be forwarded to:
Ernie Gangloff
Independent ex Officio NASFUND Board
C/ Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
Level 12 Deloitte
P.O. Box 1275
Port Moresby
Email: Egangloff@deloitte.com.pg
Authorized by:
NASFUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Joint CEO, Rod Mitchell's Statement
I will preface this statement with the following quote from author Kevin Donnelly
“Deciding between competing rights and balancing rights with responsibilities is difficult and challenging, no more than in relation to freedom of religion, expression and belief. As common sense suggests, not all rights are absolute and there are occasions when particular rights have to be qualified or curtailed. Freedom of expression does not give one the licence to shout “fire” in a crowed cinema”
A number of issues in relation to allegations made on a blog site and reproduced in scurrilous form by email circulation through out PNG can be drawn from the above quotation.
1. That blogs far from being a democratic agent for change are now being used more and more as a tool for certain smear campaigns and agendas
2. In relation to allegations about me we can see that there is an agenda on a blog site to make any fanciful allegation without substantiation and use it to smear my character.
3. Nearly all the postings are written by the same person under different names. There also appears to be a racist overtone.
4. There should be an onus where people make unsubstantiated allegations that are designed to damage a persons reputation, for blog sites to not only state who they are, but also any article should be fully credited to the person who wrote it – not some glib “PNG Nationalist” etc
5. The whole approach on this blog goes against common law. What we have in these “blogs” is some Napoleonic approach of guilty until we say otherwise. And that also tells any thinking person of the hidden agenda at work here. Faceless people behind faceless, unsubstantiated muck raking.
On this I note the claims of one anonymous writer who believes the mere mention of claims of defamation suggest identification with corruption.
Once again I state that no one begrudges fair comment.
Malicious unsubstantiated allegations designed to hurt a person or company’s reputation is in a class of its own and the mere refuting of an allegation does not justify the malicious intent of the allegation in the first place.
It is a shame that this particular website does not demand more accountability from those who comment and if it was a legitimate site you would expect a code of conduct regime in place – Not a policy of agenda driven anarchy.
It is clear that over the last few months there has been a concerted attempt to destabilize NASFUND, the Board and it’s Management by malicious rubbish.
The most successful financial organisation in Papua New Guinea will not stand by idly and allow faceless people to dictate or set their hidden agenda against the organisation.
I ask the Members and the public to hold firm and co operate in exposing the people behind the website and those who wrote the malicious commentary.
Let them have their day in court and let their allegations be tested in a legitimate forum.
Rod Mitchell
NASFUND
These people have been living in their offices for too long. I can't think of any better evidence that NASFUND has something to hide than to offer K50,000 (not K5,000) to shut people up.
ReplyDeleteIncrease to K500,000.00?
ReplyDelete