Conversation started April 4/13, 4:03am PNGexposed Blog Exposing the truth about corruption Home > Corruption, Papua New Guinea > PM O’Neill and his new Ports boss have a sordid past PM O’Neill and his new Ports boss have a sordid past May 20, 2013Leave a commentGo to comments Corruption is a word writ large over the relationship between PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his newly appointed Chairman of PNG Ports, Nathaniel Poya ( or Polya). Poya took up his new role in February this year despite a history of corruption, failed businesses, debts and conflicts of interest. O’Neill and Poya’s role in the NPF scandal O’Neill and Poya first came to attention in the investigation into the huge National Provident Fund corruption scandal. The Commission of Inquiry, headed by retired Justice Tos Barnett, revealed O’Neill and Poya jointly owned a company named Mecca (No.36) which received large illegal payments from the National Provident Fund. At that time Poya was both a trustee of NPF and a director and shareholder of Mecca. The Commission found that on 17 May 1999, K100,000 derived from the NPF Tower fraud was deposited into the account of Mecca (no.36) and “that such money was not earned”. The Commission of Inquiry recommended both O’Neill and Poya be referred to the Ombudsman Commission for potential breach of the Leadership Code: (e) MR Poiya and Mr O’Neill benefited from the payment to Mecca; (f) THE benefit received by trustee Poiya was improper and the commission recommends that he be referred to the Ombudsman to consider whether there had been a breach of the Leadership Code by Mr Poiya; and (g) The benefit received by Mr O’Neill was improper and at the time he was subject to the Leadership Code, being executive director of Finance Pacific. In addition the Commission of Inquiry found O’Neill also benefited from and ordered many other corrupt payments involving NPF Tower fraud proceeds. A further K50,000 from the NPF fraud was paid to O’Neill’s former wife, Cheryl Caley The Commission also stated: Mr O’Neill’s explanations were unacceptable, internally inconsistent and contrary to clearly documented factual evidence Poya not a fit and proper person to head PNG Ports Nathaniel Poya is also not a fit and proper person to head any public corporation or government department because of some of his other business dealings. Poya was a shareholder and director in Voco Point Trading Ltd when it went into liquidation in 2004 owing K3.9 million to 89 creditors including Bank of South Pacific. In a subsequent legal case, National Court judge Justice Gabi was highly critical of the company’s failure to pay taxes or file tax returns for a number of years, conduct the judge described as “contrary to corporate morality or public interest”. [OS 291 of 2007, Poya -v- Paki at para 15] Conflicts of Interest O’Neill is also wrong to appoint Poya to Chair PNG Ports, as Poya is alleged to have a clear conflict of interest. Mr Poya it is claimed has his own stevedoring business, PNG National Stevedoring. In this role Poya previously took the Minister for Transport to court for not awarding his company lucrative ports contracts; a court case that Poya subsequently lost. O’Neill himself is also in a conflict of interest situation in this matter as Mr Poya, according to MP Sam Basil, is also a relative of the Prime Minister. [Post Courier 10 May 2013] With O’Neill back as Minister for Finance we are all losers July 28, 2010Leave a commentGo to comments With Peter O’Neill installed as Minister for Finance despite the findings of fraud against him in the NPF Commission of Inquiry, it is worth reflecting on the Post Courier editorial published on the 10th of April 2003. An editorial which posed the question of where we are going as a Nation when we fail to take action against those implicated in “the greatest scandal ever in the history of PNG” Lack of action: We are all losers THIS is the last update we will publish on the National Provident Fund Commission of Inquiry findings. Over the last 85 editions, the Post-Courier published 97 pages of extracts from the NPF Report as well as a Scoreboard on the referrals made to the various national institutions for further action. The pages this newspaper had committed to the NPF Report amounted to a revenue of more than K224,000 which we did not collect. That was the cost of bringing this report to the people of Papua New Guinea — more specifically thousands of contributors to the National Provident Fund who lost millions of kina in life savings they will never ever reclaim. For them the only satisfaction will be to see justice done — that those responsible for this greatest scandal ever in the history of PNG face the law and answer for their actions. We have no regrets at what may seem to be lost revenue. We did so in good faith and in the public interest because of our firm commitment to fight corruption at all levels in our society. This may mark the end of the published extracts from the NPF Report but our commitment and resolve to rid corruption from this great nation remains as strong as ever. We are committed to working in partnership with all our partners in the Community Coalition Against Corruption and the great Institutions of State to ensure justice prevails in PNG — for without it there is no future for our children and future generations. We are committed to supporting all efforts being made to ensure our people live and enjoy the fruits of a just, open society with systems that ensure transparency and accountability in leadership at all levels. A society where every man, woman and child is given an equal opportunity to realise their full potential as free citizens of this nation. Corruption is a deadly form of cancer that is eating away at the social fabric of PNG. A major surgery is required to remove it before it engulfs the whole body and soul of our land. There is a ray of hope out there in the community that gives us confidence that even if action on the referrals contained in the NPF Report is delayed, we know that there is a coalition of many individuals and groups in this country who have a voice loud enough to remind the institutions of State of their duties and responsibility to implement the recommendations of the report. Today’s public forum asks the most pertinent question about the referrals: What action? As this forum gets underway in Port Moresby, the final report of another commission of inquiry — the Commission of Inquiry into the Defence Force Retirement Benefits Fund will be presented to the Prime Minister. We have yet to see one successful prosecution out of the NPF Commission of Inquiry Report and we have another report soon to be tabled in Parliament. The contents of that report will remain secret until it is actually tabled in the House. Only then will we know what the inquiry has found. Will there be another public forum to ask the same question: What Action? Both reports are a sad indictment of the direction our country has taken in the last few years. We say that the elite of this nation ought to feel guilty about not doing the right thing by their people. So much hope and confidence was placed on so many of our elite citizens but they have failed their people. All of us are the ultimate losers. British High Commission undermines anti-corruption fight September 1, 2010Leave a commentGo to comments The British High Commission in Papua New Guinea has undermined the fight against corruption in the Pacific island nation by sharing an anti-corruption stage with National Provident Fund fraudster Peter O’Neill. British High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, David Dunn, said the UK government was pleased to be able to share the stage with Finance Minister O’Neill and endorse his efforts to steal from the people of PNG. Peter O’Neill was implicated in major fraud by the Commission of Inquiry into the National Provident Fund and recommended for prosecution. He now provides concrete advice, best practice and support to more than 100 like minded leaders who have decided to profit from corruption. “Ensuring that the PNG government is un-transparent, unfair and an unequal playing field is critical for the future development of corruption,” said David Dunn. Supporting known criminals is also the new policy of BACA, a coalition of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce (POMCCI), the British High Commission and the PNG Chapter of Transparency International (TIPNG). The coalition was established in 2009 to provide awareness, education and support to corrupt leaders like Peter O’Neill on how to just carry on pretending nothing is wrong. A recent independent study undertaken by the coaltion revealed that in the last 12 months 99% of PNG MPs had expressed their satisfaction that even if identified as involved in major fraud they were confident the British High Commission, TI and the business community would continue to embrace them. The British High Commission’s support for PNG’s corrupt leaders is part of a global UK commitment to endorse corruption and encourage unfair trade. In support of this UK Prime Minister David Cameron recently announced primary legislation aimed at further bribery and corruption in support of British foreign policy and overseas contracts. The new UK Bribery Act will ensure that the UK stays at the forefront of corruption and will legally empower British authorities to insist that UK companies bribe overseas governments to secure contracts. For more information on how you can support PNG’s corrupt leaders email [email protected]. O’Neill’s appointment as Finance Minister a cruel joke from a corrupt government July 27, 2010Leave a commentGo to comments Prime Minister Michael Somare’s appointment of MP Peter O’Neill as Treasury and Finance Minister looks like an unmitigated disaster as Mr O’Neill has a very slippery past and was heavily involved in the National Provident Fund fraud. Peter O’Neill was one of the three people who orchestrated the NPF Tower Fraud. He helped steal millions from the retirement savings of ordinary Papua New Guineans and he has never been brought to justice. Mr O’Neill, Jimmy Maladina and Herman Leahy shared in the K2.5 million from the scam. There was a Commission of Inquiry into the NPF. It recommended various people be prosecuted for stealing, amongst other offences. One of them was Peter O’Neill. In what is now known as the Tower Fraud, Kumugai Gumi were contracted to build what is now known as Deloitte Tower in Port Moresby – a large multiple story office building. The original contract price was about K47 Million. But will Bill Skate and his boys badly managing and plundering the country, the Kina was on the slide – from 1:1 with the Australian Dollar in 1997 it had quickly slid to K1 = .75c in 1998/99 Kumugai Gumi began to hurt. The building of the tower was not a hugely profitable project and was really a vehicle to entrench them in the market in PNG. It was however relying upon materials from overseas, and it was going to do very badly on the project if there wasn’t a contract variation to allow an increased payment to cope with the exchange rate variation. Herman Leahy was the in house lawyer at NPF. The legal work on this contract was actually briefed out to a private firm – Carter Newell, a firm in which Jimmy Maladina was a partner when he was appointed Chair of the Board of NPF. Carter Newell gave advice to NPF that NPF didn’t have to pay any extra money to KG. Knowing this, Maladina and Peter O’Neill hatched a plan – that Jimmy would call the boss of KG in, and tell him that he would get him a contract variation of K3.3 million BUT that KG would have to ask for K5.8 million and that Jimmy would ensure that KG would be paid the K5.8 million, but that then KG would have to pay K2.5 to Jimmy (and then Jimmy was to share that with Peter and Herman). The Japanese boss of KG, who didn’t speak English very well, refused. Jimmy then told him that KG would never get an increase in the contract unless it was according to Jimmy’s plan. Jimmy also told the KG boss he had friends in high places including the PM, and that the KG boss had no-one to complain to. The KG boss left Jimmy’s office and did not agree initially to the arrangement but more pressure was later put him by Jimmy, and he eventually agreed. So the K5.5 million was paid by NPF to KG as a contract variation, and KG duly paid Jimmy the K2.5million. Then Jimmy shared it with Peter O’ Neill and Leahy. The Commission of Inquiry traced the K2.5 million through Jimmy and Peter to a total of 13 more people, including Herman Leahy. They didn’t hide their tracks well. Peter used the money to pay American express bills and his Aviat club membership etc. All copies of bank statements and original cheques were obtained. It also helped the Commission as KG executives agreed to give evidence against Peter and Jimmy and Herman in the hope that they would not be prosecuted. All the evidence was put before the Commission and it recommended Jimmy and Peter and the others for prosecution. The final report came out in 2003. Jimmy fled the country. Eventually he came back and he and Herman were initially charged, but their cases were individually thrown out by magistrates. Herman was then indicted by the Public Prosecutors’ Office, which he appealed and finally after a couple of years the court decided to reject his appeal. ONLY About a month ago it was announced in the newspapers that there would be a joint trial for Jimmy and Herman. Peter O’Neill has NEVER been charged. This is what the NPF Commission of Inquiry said about Peter O’Neill “…the commission made a thorough study of Port Moresby First National Real Estate’s accounts and traced all moneys paid in and out on account of Mr O’Neill. This conclusively showed that Mr O’Neill had definitely benefitted from the proceeds of the NPF Tower fraud. It also showed that, despite his denial’s, Mr O’Neill is the beneficial owner of PMFNRE and that Mr Sullivan and Mr Awela are his nominee shareholders.It is quite clear that there is a relationship between Mr Maladina and Mr O’Neill whereby they have benefitted jointly from the NPF Tower fraud.” This is what the NPF Commission of Inquiry said about the K2.5 million “This claim was spurious and was agreed upon between Mr Maladina and Kumagai Gumi managers (under pressure from Mr Maladina) to enable the money to be channelled through Kumagai Gumi and on paid for the benefit of Mr Maladina, with shares for Mr Leahy and Mr O’Neill (through the account of Carter Newell and PMFNRE).NPF is entitled to recover this K2.505 million.”
Posted on: Thu, 08 May 2014 21:21:09 +0000