NA still split

But highlands, southern and Momase blocs prefer Abal

 

THE governing National Alliance is still split on who should succeed ailing Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare as party leader, The National reports.

It is now the party’s parliamentary wing pitched against the NA national executive as the leadership tussle entered its second day with no compromise in sight.

However, yesterday, NA’s parliamentary wing renewed undivided support for Wabag MP Sam Abal who has been acting prime minister since March.

The NA highlands MPs closed ranks around Abal to recognise him as their new leader while support also came from the other two regions, Momase and southern.

Attorney-General and Justice Minister Sir Arnold Amet, representing Momase NA, congratulated his Highlands colleagues for electing Abal while southern’s representative, Minister assisting the Prime Minister Charles Abel, said it was happy that NA highlands had consolidated.

 

NA party members on collision course

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

 

EXECUTIVES of the ruling National Alliance party and its parliamentarians are on a collision course over the suspension of acting prime minister from the party, The National reports.

But Abal has reassured the people and party supporters that the National Alliance “is solid”.

He will also put up his hand up for the post of prime minister when it becomes available.

The party’s national executive committee had decided on Monday to suspend Wabag MP Abal for two weeks for “wilfully acting in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the party”.

In that regard, the parliamentarians said the national executives had more powers than them, the elected members of parliament.

The NA highlands MPs yesterday closed ranks around Abal who they elected as the region’s new deputy leader claiming their decision was within the confines of the party constitution.

Abal said the national executive should, like other political parties, handle issues internally before going to the media.

“They have done a disservice by going to the press. At the moment they have served documents which I said is not legal,” he said.

“Legal advice is that it is debatable whether an unelected representative can presumably suspend an elected member of parliament and purportedly take down the acting prime minister.”

Abal promised to unite the party and “cut out stuff like this that try to weaken and break up the party”.

Abal said Wednesday night’s decision was reached after much deli­beration.

He commended the leaders from the region for supporting Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare’s appointment of him as deputy and acting prime minister.

“The time for elections is next year and the National Alliance, being the biggest party, needs to take steps to consolidate and move forward,” Abal said.

“It is not an easy decision and I thank the former leader, Don Polye, for his leadership thus far.

“It is about time we renewed the face of the party and propose to the people that we have re-strategised and prepare ourselves to lead the country.”

Abal said the country had been unstable with governments lasting 18 months, but the National Alliance-led government had brought stability and restored investor confidence.

Abal was flanked by Education Minister James Marape (Tari-Pori); Labour Minister Sani Rambi (Mul-Baiyer); Tom Olga (Western Highlands Governor); Yawa Silupa (Lufa); Benjamin Mul (North Waghi); Miki Kaeok (Wapenamanda) and Lands Minister Lucas Dekena.

The media conference was attended by Attorney-General Sir Arnold Amet (Momase) and Charles Abel (southern).

They were the first to congratulate Abal on his election.

Murder suspect's transfer baffles warders

By JASON POK

 

PRISON authorities want police to explain how a murder suspect in their custody was not in his cell at the Boroko police station on Wednesday night, The National reports.

Bomana prison commander Michael Mondia said Theo Yasause, who is facing charges in relation to the death of a former PNG Kumuls player early this year, was brought from the prison, where the court had ordered he be kept in custody, by police officers on Wednesday.

Yasause is the former boss of the office of climate change.

Mondia said Yasause was taken out of Bomana prison by Boroko-based police officers on Wednesday for further investigation into his murder charge.

He said the officers were from the criminal investigation division in Boroko.

Mondia, however, sent some of his officers later to check on Yasause at the police station and discovered that he was not in his cell.

He said his men saw Yasause’s car pull out of the station as they were driving into the Boroko police station.

He said his officers could not find him in the cell but later saw Yasause “fast asleep” in one of the offices at the Boroko station.

He said his officers believed that Yasause had returned from somewhere with the police officers.

Several attempts last night to get comments from police in Boroko were unsuccessful.

Banks asked to join war against fraud

By FRANK SENGE KOLMA

 

PAYMENTS for infrastructure, compensation, feasibility studies and out of court settlements have been identified as the conduits by which the most fraud is committed against the state, The National reports.

And these types of payments will now be queued by banks as high-risk and be put through the most stringent due diligence procedures before being cleared.

Those who regularly bring these kinds of payments to banks will be placed on a high risk watch list and the information be shared be between banks, the fraud squad and relevant stakeholders.

These are part of due diligence guideline issued by the Police Fraud Squad's financial intelligence unit under the proceeds of crime act in relation to government payments.

Payments above a certain threshold will incur the attention of banks which will then apply the due diligence guideline. No threshold figure is mentioned in the guideline.

Compensation payments by the state to various parties have come under the special attention.

"Fraudulent payments obtained through the compensation payment process have become so frequent that they do not generate the level of suspicion that they deserve," the guideline states.

"It is evident that in recent times many claims have been paid in contravention of the statutory process, allowing illegitimate and improper claims and excess payments and excessive payouts to be legitimised."

The guideline states that the finance secretary, the attorney-general and the solicitor-general can only settle claims against the state and can only be drawn from legal sources and cannot be drawn from trust accounts or from votes other than the court order appropriation.

Votes that had attracted frequent abuses in the past include c207 miscellaneous, 460 account No. 2 and the 410 cash adjustment account, the guideline states.

When suspicious payments are detected the decision to accept a government cheque or payment must be made by at least two people in the bank.

"The signatures of the two must be recorded on the customer's file along with the acknowledgment that they agree with the assessment and a brief statement as to why," the guideline states.

"The decision must state whether the payment complies with the Public Finances Management Act or not.

"Cash dealers shall not clear any government cheque or payment above the threshold until these processes have been completed and a decision recorded about the legitimacy of the payment.

"This guideline applies to all payments of money from the public purse including trust accounts and all levels of government."

Companies that have a "long history of exemplary conduct in provision of goods and services to the government" will be placed on a low-risk list and clearance processes will be less stringent.

It is uncertain at this point whether or not the guideline is binding upon all cash dealers or whether or not banks have agreed to perform the due diligence asked of them.

Opposition backs calls for inquiry

THE opposition wants a commission of inquiry to look into how some government ministers have been setting up business entities using public funds, The National reports.

This included Acting Prime Minister Sam Abal who, they claimed, set up the K5.6 million Wabag District Rural Holdings Ltd, gave K10 million to Eremas Wartoto to start airline company Travel Air and diverted LNG revenue into the Independent Public Business Corporation.

Opposition leader Belden Namah, Moresby Northwest MP Sir Mekere Morauta, Namatanai MP Byron Chan, Rabaul MP Dr Allan Marat and Gazelle MP Malakai Tabar said at a media conference an inquiry should look into such dealings.

Namah claimed Abal had deposited K5.6 million of public funds in the new company's account of which he is the main signatory.

He said it was an example of misuse of public funds.

Namah and his colleagues said Abal should support his "year of implementation" policy by setting up the commission to look into his own dealings with Wabag Holdings, Wartoto and the K1.9 billion of development budget paid out in three months.

Sir Mekere claimed these were examples of ways used by ministers to divert public funds into their pockets.

"It is naked and it is stupid." Sir Mekere said.

He said opposition sources in the IPBC and National Planning had found out that more than K10 million was allegedly given to Wartoto by the government.

"The whole nation was told by the treasurer in his budget speech that Air Niugini had been allocated K30 million for re-fleeting.  Has this money been given to Air Niugini?" he asked.

Sir Mekere said it would be wrong if the money was allocated elsewhere. 

"Air Niugini struggles everyday with domestic services because it does not have enough aircraft," he said.

"What is the delay in giving Air Niugini the money it was allocated in the budget?"

Abal suspended

But highlands MPs vote in acting PM as deputy party leader

 

By ISAAC NICHOLAS

 

THE National Alliance party has suspended Wabag MP Sam Abal for two months, although the decision will not affect his position as acting prime minister, The National reports.

In another twist to the NA leadership tussle, its highlands bloc parliamentary wing met last night and appointed Abal as its leader in place of Kandep MP Don Polye.

Hours earlier, the NA national executive had announced Abal's suspension for "wilfully acting in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the party".

The notice of his suspension was served on him by party president Simon Kaiwi and secretary-general Stephen Pokawin.

The suspension affects Abal's bid to contest the party leadership at next month's national convention in Minj, Western Highlands.

The party leadership is up for grabs because the current leader, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, cannot re-contest it.

In the suspension notice, Pokawin said the decision was reached after careful consideration of the correspondence regarding the concerns raised by members of the party on the position of deputy leader (highlands) which arose after the sacking of Kandep MP Don Polye as cabinet minister.

The notice further read: "And based on the general apprehension of instability in the party, caused by your actions to force highlands NA MPs to remove Polye as deputy leader at all cost, the (party's) national executive committee is of the opinion that as a member of NA, you have persistently and wilfully acted in a manner prejudicial to the interest of the party."

Pokawin said a committee meeting on Monday had resolved to suspend Abal as a member of the NA for two months, from yesterday to Sept 20.

Abal is told he is "to cease to interfere with the affairs of the National Alliance party, in particular, as it relates to the issue of deputy parliamentary leader highlands, until the matters raised by the resolutions of the Enga provincial branch and the highlands regional branch of the party is fully dealt with according to the party constitution.

"You are informed that the national executive committee shall meet on Friday, Aug 12, to further deliberate on the matter."

Kaiwi, in a separate letter to Abal, said the acting prime minister had requested the party president to call a meeting last Thursday or Friday to discuss the NA highlands leadership issue.

"By the way our party is structured, the issue of the letter is essentially an internal party issue.

"Presently, the position of deputy leader highlands is not vacant," Kaiwi said in his letter.

He said under Polye's leadership, the party had grown to be a major political party in the highlands region.

"Unless it can be demonstrated that, as deputy leader, Polye has conducted himself in a manner that is prejudicial to the interest of the party, the party needs to give credit where it is due.

"As acting prime minister, you dismissed Polye as a cabinet minister. You have the authority to do that.

"However, your actions since then to have the NA highlands MPs further remove Polye as deputy party leader and, for you to take over, raises the issue of whether such action is in the interest of NA as a political institution."

Kaiwi said the party was structured in such a way that the parliamentary wing, or its regional caucuses, was a recognised body within the party.

He said the parliamentary leader was responsible for the parliamentary wing and assisted by four deputy leaders who were responsible for each region.

Kaiwi said the authority to call for regional meetings to deal with such issues was vested with deputy leaders and, if they failed to convene meetings, then clause 30 of the NA constitution could be invoked for a special meeting to be called to deal with the matter.

He claimed that the party's committee had been informed that some signatures of MPs had been secured under duress.

"This is a serious allegation which, we hope, is unsubstantiated and, most importantly, that it does not become part of the way National Alliance conducts its businesses," Kaiwi said.

Last night at Airways Hotel, 11 of the 12 NA Highlands MPs resolved to elect Abal as the new deputy parliamentary leader in the absence of Polye.

Besides Abal, the others present were Speaker Jeffery Nape, Agriculture Minister Philip Kikala (Lagaip-Porgera), Western Highlands Governor Tom Olga, Minister for Labour Sani Rambi (Mul-Baiyer), Minister for Lands Lucas Dekena, Wapenamanda MP Miki Kaeok, Civil Aviation and Transport Minister  Benjamin Poponawa (Tambul-Nebilyer), Lufa MP Yawa Silupa, Education Minister James Marape (Tari-Pori) and North Waghi MP Benjamin Mul.

Abal said in a statement the NA highlands parliamentary wing ignored his suspension notice because it was legally flawed under the party constitution.

He said it was flawed because any disciplinary process, including suspension or expulsion, must firstly be lodged by the parliamentary wing.

Secondly, it was a mandatory requirement that the national executive committee must include all members including Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare to decide such a suspension.

Sir Mekere believes amount given to Travel Air far more than K10 million

Former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said today that sources in IPBC and the Department of National Planning are whispering that far more than K10 million has been dished out to Eremas Wartoto by the Government.

 “The whole nation was told by the Treasurer in his budget speech that Air Niugini had been allocated K30 million for re-fleeting,” he said.

“Has this money been given to Air Niugini?”

“The sources in IPBC and Planning have whispered that the money has been given to somebody else. 

“Was the money for Air Niugini given to Mr Wartoto? 

“Can Tiensten and Somare trumpet an answer so we know?”

Sir Mekere said that if this was the case, it was illogical and plain wrong. 

“Air Niugini struggles every day with domestic services because it does not have enough aircraft,” he said.

“What is the delay in giving Air Niugini the money it was allocated in the budget? 

“Giving it would have been a major strike in Sam Abal’s toktok of ‘Year of Implementation’.

“I ask again: What is the rationale in giving a private airline money when the government-owned airline is struggling, and waiting to receive the K40 million appropriated by Parliament?

“Tiensten is still to explain where in the budget the money for Mr Wartoto was contained. 

“As far as I know, Parliament never appropriated one toea for Travel Air.”

Sir Mekere said other sources were saying that hundreds of millions were involved in the setting up of this private airline. 

“Where are the funds coming from? 

“Who are the beneficial owners of the airline?

“Is it just Eremas Wartoto or are some of his National Alliance Kitchen Cabinet friends also involved? 

“Are some of the millions coming from the Government for the purchase of aircraft being vomited back as commission to his friends?

“Acting Prime Minister, what are you waiting for?

“Set up a Commission of Inquiry so that all this dirt can be dug up and use the hole to bury the criminals involved.”