The Gardian
Opposition MPs are calling for the prime minister of Papua New Guinea to step down in light of the Guardian’s revelations that his company secured a multimillion dollar government contract in a process the Asian Development Bank says may have violated its anti-corruption guidelines.
The revelations centred on Wild Cat Developments. Prime minister Peter O’Neill was sole shareholder of Wild Cat in 2014 when it secured a $32.86m contract to build 12 bridges in the country from the Asian Development Bank.
According to a report published by the ADB, the company won the contract despite the fact the the it was an “unqualified contractor” and “potentially misrepresented” its financial data. The contract was eventually terminated and had to be retendered to a Chinese company. O’Neill denies wrongdoing and says the contract had been obtained in accordance with protocol and was terminated by mutual consent.
Bryan Kramer, the MP for Madang, said if something like this had occurred in any other country, their leader would resign.
“If we had a strong governance system, it would be dealt with. In any other country… they would resign. Unfortunately in PNG we are the number one corrupt country in Apec,” he said.
O’Neill, who became prime minister in 2011, has previously had corruption allegations levelled against him. In 2014, police served an arrest warrant against O’Neill on corruption charges. O’Neill denied the allegations, which he said were politically motivated and he successfully challenged the legality of the arrest warrant in court.
The failure to arrest O’Neill and the allegations against him led to protests at universities in PNG in 2016, during which police shot and wounded eight students.
O’Neill was re-elected as prime minister in 2017, in an election that observers allege was “marred by widespread fraud and malpractice, and extensive vote rigging”.
The latest revelations about the prime minister’s company came as PNG was preparing to host world leaders including Xi Jinping, Mike Pence, Justin Trudeau and Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, who arrive this week for the Apec summit.
Allan Bird, member for East Sepik and governor for that region, said Apec was “a tremendous opportunity to showcase to the world the huge level of corruption, the endemic, systemic levels of corruption here. So, I’m very happy with Apec to be honest with you.”
Bird said corruption was rife in Papua New Guinea. “There’s only so much everyone can take,” he said. “I’d like to see all of these things investigated and brought to the light of day.”
I’ve kind of lost faith in the investigative arms of Papua New Guinea.
Gary Juffa, governor of Oro
Gary Juffa, the governor of Oro, said he did not think it was likely that any action would be taken against the prime minister over his company’s involvement with the bridge-building contract.
“In an ideal world he’d be investigated for these allegations,” said Juffa. “I’ve kind of lost faith in the investigative arms of Papua New Guinea in that they’re not as active as they ought to be, they used to be.”
Asked how much confidence he had in the prime minister, Juffa said he had “absolutely none”, adding Papua New Guineans deserved better than Peter O’Neill.
“This country has many great people, honourable people, good people and they deserve better than this,” he said. “They deserve a prime minister that actually cares, a prime minister who gives a shit for his people and protects the interests of the people and the interests of the nation.”
