Probe into corruption in PNG starts

By JEFFREY ELAPA

THE National Executive Council has appointed a team of qualified and professional personnel to investigate allegations of corruption and mismanagement at the Department of National Planning and Monitoring, The National reports.
It will also investigate the controversial K125 million Nasfund Kokopo infrastructure fund.
Prime Minister Peter O'Neill said yesterday the investigating team would be led by Sam Koim, a principal lawyer at the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
"I would like to inform the people of Papua New Guinea that my government is serious about fighting corruption in the country," O'Neill said.
"As you are aware, there are allegations of massive corruption in the department.
"We cannot sweep this under the carpet.
"We have to look into this, expose the rot, and pu­nish the perpetrators.
"We have chosen this option instead of a commission of inquiry, which would be time-consuming, very expensive and most importantly its findings will not be binding until it is endorsed by parliament.
"Another important factor that defeated the purpose of the commission of inquiry has been that the people who investigated the matter would not have the po­wers to prosecute.
"We are aware that some of commission of inquiry reports had been restrained by the courts from being published and implemented. 
"We have appointed a dedicated and professional team of Papua New Guineans to undertake this investigation.
"They are a dedicated team of serving public servants who we have confidence in to deliver a result as soon as possible.
"Papua  New Guineans want answers and I'm confident this team will deli­ver them," O'Neill said.
He said the government had drawn the team of investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Alliance (NACA), the attorney-general's office, a member from the national planning, and other agencies which had established an understanding by way of a memorandum of understanding to work together in the fight against corruption.
He said the team members had investigatory and prosecution powers under their respective laws that would enable them to in­vestigate, prosecute and recoup public funds, where appropriate.
He said the team members would carry out their legal duties but under a special arrangement with the NEC's endorsement.
O'Neill said the terms of reference would not be limited to 2011 but would include the 2009 and 2010 development budgets.
"This is not a political witch-hunt. My government is simply empowering and giving the political will to address very pressing issues affecting good go­vernance and accountabi­lity, which the previous government condoned and ignored.
"On top of the list are the K125 million Kokopo in­frastructure treasury bill and the K10 million given to a Kokopo businessman.
"The team will get to the bottom of this rot and whoever is implicated, including myself, if I am implicated, will be brought to justice under the one and only rule of law in this country.
"I call on all state agencies, corporate citizens, including banks and the public to help this investigation team.
"You have a duty to contribute towards fighting corruption."
He said the team had three months to carry out their work and report back to cabinet.

"The team will advise the public of the administrative arrangements soon on the conduct of the investigation."

Two little Mendi boys create PNG aviation history

By MALUM NALU
Back in the 1970s, two boys from Mendi, Southern Highlands province, started their primary school, little knowing that fate had already bound their destinies together.
Their names were James Pima and Philip Emeck, and their story is just like that told in the song Two Little Boys – made famous by Australian entertainer Rolf Harris - as they played together, went to school together, and went to war together.
Often, while playing together in those far-off days, they’d look at planes flying high up in the skies over Mendi, and dream of being pilots.
Pima and Emeck grew up together, went to primary school together, Mendi High School together, Sogeri National High School together, and then went on to the PNG Defence Force Academy at Igam Barracks outside Lae.
At Igam, they completed military training together, went on for pilot training in Australia, and upon return started active service as airmen for the PNGDF during the Bougainville Crisis.
Then they went their separate ways, Pima leaving military service in 1994, Emeck in 2002, and they served in various jobs within civil aviation.
In 2007, their paths crossed again at Helifix, where they were pioneer pilots for PNG’s first 100% nationally-owned helicopter company.
Pima, until his resignation from Helifix two months ago with Emeck, was chief pilot and flight operations manager with the now fully-fledged company.
Last Friday, those two little Mendi boys, Capt James Pima and Capt Philip Emeck, now veteran PNG airmen at 42 years of age, created another proud moment in PNG aviation history when they arrived from Sydney, Australia, with their new Bell 407 helicopter at Jackson International Airport.

The two little boys from Mendi Capt James Pima (left) and Capt Philip Emeck.-Pictures by MALUM NALU

It heralded the birth of PNG’s second 100% nationally-owned company involved in helicopters, Heli Solutions.
Champagne was sprayed and there were hugs and congratulations all around as the all PNG crew of captains Pima and Emeck, together with chief engineer Stanley Joe, arrived with the K7 million helicopter after a 16-hour flight from Sydney, Australia.

Friends and relatives of the three PNG airmen spray the Bell 407 with champagne after its arrival last Friday

The flight took them through Brisbane, Cairns, Horn Island, Daru and Kerema before arriving in Port Moresby at 4.30pm.
Former PNGDF pilots Pima and Emeck are proud owners of the VIP-configured seven-seater, that can carry 1.5 tonnes and has a cruising speed of 130 knots.
It has telephone, stereo, air-conditioning, tinted glass and refrigerator for its anticipated VIP clientele, and had only clocked up 400 hours when bought by Heli Solutions.

Capt James Pima is all smiles after bringing in the Bell 407 helicopter from Sydney, Australia

“Our machine is almost brand-new, only clocking 400 hours,” an excited Pima tells me.
“We bought it from a private owner, a property developer in Sydney, who was using it for his own business.
“This is the only one in the country with a full glass cockpit.
“It has a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS), which is an aircraft collision avoidance system designed to reduce the incidence of mid-air collisions between aircraft.
“It’s fully instrument flight rules (IFR), which means you can fly through bad weather.
“The cockpit instrumentation is basically what you get on a Dash 8 or F100.

The Bell 407 lands in Port Moresby after a 16-hour flight from Sydney

“It’s got the latest tail boom installation to assist with high altitude operations.
“It travels at about the same speed as a Twin Otter, which is 130 knots.
“It can fly up to a ceiling of 20,000 feet.”
Pima says there’ll be no shortage of customers once the new Bell 407 gets airborne.
“Customers are just waiting for us to kick off,” he adds.
“Once we kick off, we can’t have rest.
“Once we kick off, however, the fear is that we won’t have enough helicopters to meet all our customer demands.
“If this happens, the only thing we can do is to get another helicopter, and get it fast!
“There is so much exploration work and LNG work in the country that there aren’t enough helicopters.
“It’s also worth noting that while it’s good to have more helicopters, you have to worry about the manpower to service these helicopters.
“The government should be stepping in to create training courses for our young people because, obviously, we don’t produce enough graduates in the field of aviation.”
Pima adds Heli Solutions already has assured customers, given contacts Emeck and he have established over the years.
“Our client base will include Telikom, government departments like education and health, as well as provincial governments,” he says.
“We are also assured of business from statutory organisations like National Fisheries Authority, National Forest Authority and National Disaster and Emergency Services.
“Then, of course, there are the mining and exploration companies.”
Emeck thanked all their family members and friends for their support, and especially Westpac Bank for its financial support in helping them to buy the helicopter.
They anticipate buying another one or two more helicopters in the very near future to boost up their fleet.
Because Heli Solutions does not have an air-operating certificate from Civil Aviation Safety Authority, it will in the interim operate under another nationally-owned aviation firm, National Aviation Services, until such time that it obtains its own.
Acting CEO of NAS, former PNGDF Squadron Leader Capt John Imaka, said aviation was booming in PNG with the mining, oil and gas projects, however, only a few nationals were direct participants in it.
Imaka said NAS was only too pleased to help Heli Solutions because it was an all-PNG company helping another all-PNG company in the highly-regulated aviation industry.

From left are Capt Philip Emeck, chief engineer Stanley Joe and Capt James Pima being welcomed by National Aviation Services acting CEO Capt James Imaka at the NAS hangar last Friday

Koroba-Kopiago MP, John Kekeno, said it was a proud moment for Southern Highlands and PNG with the arrival of a helicopter, which was owned and operated by an all-PNG crew.

MCJV expats attacked

THREE expatriate employees of ExxonMobil contracted engineering procurement construction contractor MCJV for the Komo International Airport were attacked by angry landowners yesterday, The National reports.
Peace and land mediation chairman for Komo, Wandipe Pini, said from Komo the expatriates had been attacked at separate locations in the airfield construction site.
Pini said one of the men was severely injured after being struck on the head with an axe, while the other two suffered minor injuries to their arms when they tried to defend themselves.
Pini said the attacks were blamed on a number of reasons relating to employment issues and the non-payment of sub-contracts and welfare-related issues with MCJV.
 "MCJV has brought in outsiders to do work that locals are capable of doing," he said.
"Other reasons are that MCJV has brought in its own machinery and vehicles into the project, giving no chance for locals to participate.
"This is not part of the UBSA and LBBSA agreement and the landowners, realising that they are big-time losers, attacked the three men," he said.
Pini called on the Minister for Labour and Industrial Relations Martin Aini to look into the matter as locals were losing out on employment opportunities in the project.
ExxonMobil, the PNG LNG project operator, confirmed the attacks yesterday.

Waieng closes in on poll count

PEOPLE'S National Congress Party candidate and a former defence minister Peter Waieng is closing the gap with only 65 votes separating him and Constitutional Democratic candidate Tobias Kulang in the Kundiawa-Gembogl by-election race, The National reports.
Waieng scored 2,893 votes while Kulang maintained a narrow lead of 2,958 votes after count 27 as at 7pm last night, after day five of the first preference counts.
Following them was veteran politician Mathew Siune with 1,505 votes.
Independent candidate William Gumayagl Onguglo is in fourth spot with 989 votes and another independent candidate Baundo Tokam is fifth with 989 votes.
The top five spots were confirmed after a total of 18, 022 ballot papers were counted. 283 ballot papers  were ruled informal and the total votes allowed for distributions were 17, 739.
It is understood a total of 39 boxes from the 93 were counted which leaves 54 more boxes yet to be counted for the primary votes.
Progress tallies for other candidates were still being done with counting from count 28.
However, results were still being finalised and should be released today.
Returning Officer for Kundiawa-Gembogl James Piapia called for the co-operation of scrutineers for candidates and urged them to seek assistance should there be any confusion on the new electronic counting system.
He was happy with the smooth progress of the counting, but appealed to candidates, scrutineers, counting officials and those involved to complete the counting within 11 days.
The results should be with the Governor-General on Aug 26.
Chimbu elections manager Steven Gore Kaupa commended the smooth progress of the counting so far.
 Kaupa expects a winning candidate to be declared by Sunday based on the current progress of the counting.

Somare’s tribunal hearing on hold

By SAMUEL RAITANO 

ANGORAM MP Arthur Somare has obtained a restraining order to have his leadership tribunal hearing deferred again pending a judicial review hearing in the National Court, The National reports.
The National Court in Waigani granted the order because Somare's argument to be made in the judicial review was based on merit and that the restraint was convenient to manage Somare's legal battles sprouting from the substantive tribunal matter.
State lawyer for the tribunal Sam Koim consented to the restraining order after convincing the court to have the due date set as Aug 24 for the order to lapse.
The matter to be dealt with first in the judicial review is to determine if the law allowed acting
public prosecutor Camillus Sambua to hand over his duty to another person.
It is in relation to state prosecutor Katwa Umpake signing the referral of Somare to the tribunal, instead of Sambua.
The tribunal had already dismissed the same appeal while pointing out that the signature on the referral did not alter the contents of the referral itself.
The tribunal had said that Sambua admitting to have authorised Umpake was sufficient.
But Somare had argued for a judicial review to question what laws allowed Sambua to pass his duty and job to another person.
The parties are expected to prepare for the review hearing set for August 22.
If a ruling is not made by Aug 24, the parties are expected to argue again for another adjournment, judge Panuel Mogish said.
Koim told the court that his client would not bring any extra documents to court.
The material before the tribunal would be used in the judicial review.

I’m still attorney-general, Amet tells Marat

By JULIA DAIA BORE

SIR Arnold Amet attended the handover-takeover ceremony between him and his successor, Dr Allan Marat, yesterday, and told those gathered that he was still the attorney-general  and minister for justice, The National reports.
He referred to Marat as the "purported attorney-general" saying neither he nor Sir Michael Somare's government recognised the "purported" events in parliament of last Tuesday which culminated in the change of government.
Sir Arnold said yesterday's occasion (to him) was not a handover-takeover.
Rather, he was only "vacating" his office due to the result of parliament's "unconstitutional" action following which he now had to "vacate" his office pending the court's determination on the matter.
He said he had attempted to seek a Supreme Court reference but "as you know, you Allan (Marat) withdrew it," he said, while smiling at his successor. 
Sir Arnold said he had complete trust in the independence of the judiciary which had yet to hear and determine its outcome on the issue currently before it.
"So I am merely vacating the office" pending the outcome of the courts, Sir Arnold said and slid the set of keys to the attorney-general's office across the table to Marat. 
 Sir Arnold said: "Yesterday, my mind meandered between whether I should do this or not…"
He said  he respected the independent judicial process and pointed out that what he could not do what was being done by the East Sepik provincial executive government.
He said he was confident of the judicial system and would await the outcome of the reference.
He then urged department staff to "stay focused" despite the political diversions and to concentrate on taking the profession to a higher level of competence.
"Leave the politics to us politicians," he said.
His words were echoed by Marat who set down the rules for his staff, saying time was of essence and he expected each person's eight working hours to be properly used as public servants.
Marat said: "I am the purported attorney-general. I will say I am now confused. I have been gazetted attorney-general and it is now up to you (those within the department and ministry) whether to refer to me as AG or purported AG."

Somare: New govt fails to show ex-PM due respect

By SAMUEL RAITANO

ANGORAM MP Arthur Somare is upset that while his father lay on his sick bed, the new government has quickly taken over power and "divided the loot", The National reports.
He said he was hurt because they (new government) had disrespected his father and had "started rummaging through things while he is still on the sick-bed".
"That old man (Sir Michael) spent his life for the good of this country but it seems that nobody cares or appre­ciates the work of such a man like him," he said.
Somare, who at times seemed emotional, said the Peter O'Neill-led go­vernment had gone through a phase that made things constitutionally chaotic.
He, however, declined to comment on the proposed sale of the K120 million Falcon jet his father used on his travels, as announced by Prime Minister O'Neill on Tuesday in parliament.
O'Neill had said the money from the sale of the aircraft would be better used on sectors such as education and health.
Speaking outside the National and Supreme Court yesterday, Somare said he had his own court cases to worry about and
he did not wish to comment on what the current go­vernment was doing with things that belonged to the people of PNG.
Meanwhile, the people of Madang are generally happy with the proposed sale of the K120 million Falcon jet.
A nurse at the Modilon Hospital intermediate ward, Sister Clancy Kom, was happy that the money would be spent on health and to provide free education.
She said the Falcon jet was a luxury item benefiting only a few people and should be done away with.
"Peter O'Neill knows what he is doing,'' she said.
"If the country can fork out such a huge sum of money (to buy and maintain the jet), where is the logic of such an exercise?
"Everyone here at the hospital is talking about that news and is overjoyed that someone finally has the guts to put his foot down."
Lesley Nailon, a community leader from Furan village, said he had to find a K3 flex card yesterday just to call The National office to express his joy.
He said he was die-hard O'Neill supporter and supported the go­vernment.
He said O'Neill had made the best decision yet to sell the Falcon jet.
Ray Kone, a youth at Sisiak was yesterday sitting among his friends outside The National's office discussing the news.
He said they agreed that enough squandering had been done by the previous government and now with the new government ma­king the cost-cutting chan­ges, it was definitely good news.
Many said the purchase of the jet never benefited the people directly and, as such, many government policies in the last government would never come to fruition such as the Vision 2050.
"We have been begging for a change and now we will see it," one betelnut seller at the Handy Mart service station known only as Bobby, said.
It was reported yesterday that the Falcon jet would cost K22 million a year to operate.
The jet had been used by the former prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, and his government ministers.
Other news that were widely welcomed by the people included the proposed free education, weeding of corruption through the re-introduction of the Independent Commission Against Corruption Bill, the implementation of 2011 deve­lopmental budgets by splitting the ministries of National Planning, Monitoring and Rural Development, revamping the Public Service Management Act to cut down on graft and corruption and to penalise those found guilty among others.