PNG & Australia under pressure over corruption allegations
25 June 2015
JOHN GARNAUT, NICK McKENZIE, RICHARD BAKER
Fairfax Media | Extracts
THE Papua New Guinea government is under pressure after revelations on Tuesday about corrupt offshore dealings with Australia.
A Fairfax Media investigation revealed that people close to prime minister Peter O’Neill were giving detailed instructions in how to remove corruptly obtained funds from the country.
The story sparked a political firestorm that threatens to engulf the prime minister.
The searing public and internal responses in Papua New Guinea also raising the heat on the Abbott government, which relies on Mr O’Neill to support its counter-terrorism and border protection policies.
PNG"s top corruption fighter, Sam Koim, called for Australian investigators to conduct "serious investigations" into dealings that implicate Mr O'Neill, whose close associates have been caught on camera explaining how to pay bribes and launder proceeds in Australia.
But Mr Koim said he feared that Australia's commitment to clean governance would be undermined by Mr O'Neill's support for Australia's asylum seeker detention centre in Manus Island.
"Is corruption not an important issue for Australia?" he told Fairfax Media. "Australia should not leverage all issues with PNG including corruption and money laundering issues against the Manus Island deal."
Mathias - Greg Sheppard is a director of Wilson Security. Link the dots.
Posted by: Peter Kranz | 28 June 2015 at 07:51 AM
Wanem nem blong em ya? Grem Sepad? I hear his children's musical team the Shepard needs a new base guitarist.
He should consider this a noble profession after his "distinguished lawyering" for Peter O'Neill and his cows. Nogat sem blo yu Graeme Shepard!
Posted by: Mathias Kin | 27 June 2015 at 10:50 PM
Good God, the media is drawing a very long bow in this matter.
What the devil has a couple of lawyers being duped into speculating on ways and means to launder ill gotten gains, got to do with the prime ministers of Australia and Papua New Guinea?
How the hell is this related to Australia's foreign policy or Border Protection strategies?
Ai Karumba ! The linkage is so tenuous as to be non existent.
Searing public and internal responses in PNG? Yes the usual angst about 'corruption',in the 'Blogs', but very low key. Ho hum!
Internal responses?
What internal responses. Raids on solicitors offices? No. Dudes being grilled at Fraud Squad Headquarters? No. Activity at the Transnational Crimes Squad and Interpol at PHQ? No? What internal responses?
What a beat up.
Transfer pricing has been going on for a long time, in all the extractive industries, invoice padding is nothing new, Casino laundering is rife, does anyone show any interest in the Real Estate registers in Cairns,Brisbane, Apia and Fiji?
Of course there are Australian laws being broken, and PNG ones as well, but isn't it AUSTRAC's job to track down the Money Launderers?
Link all this common old mendacity, venality and criminality to the Prime Ministers because of Australia's Border protection strategy (grubby and poorly administered as it has been)?
Give us a break.
Posted by: Peter Turner | 25 June 2015 at 04:36 PM
Is this in any way related to the reason why many MPs are going over to Peter Oniel's party?
Posted by: Jack Klomes | 25 June 2015 at 03:14 PM
(See image above)
Their strings are being pulled by unseen hands!
Arrrrgh!
I thought we chainsawed all the carvings down, but they've actually come to life!
Coming soon to PNG - Zombie Apocalypse.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 25 June 2015 at 02:10 PM
PNG media is now running explanations from the lawyers that the whole matter is a beat up and that the advice they were videoed giving was secretly filmed and purely hypothetical. It actually amounts to entrapment it has been claimed.
Gosh! We're all been duped by that scurrilous press again. I wonder if there will be a public apology from the Fairfax press and all those other media outlets that suggested there was money laundering going on between PNG and Australia?
Who can you trust these days?
Posted by: Paul Oates | 25 June 2015 at 01:03 PM
The real issue for Australia is primarily, were any Australian laws broken? If so, what are the authorities going to do about it?
The issue for PNG is clearly one the PNG government must address.
So far there doesn't appear to be any response from either government about these revelations. Are they baseless or are they correct? Has no one submitted a complaint that must be investigated and publicly reported on?
If not, why not?
Posted by: Paul Oates | 25 June 2015 at 10:00 AM