Namah files criminal complaint against Prime Minister O'neill

PNG Opposition leader Belden Namah takes PM to court

Opposition Leader, Belden Namah  filed a criminal complaint against Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, at the Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate for fraud, misappropriation and official corruption.

This complaint stemmed from the payment of K50 million to LR Group for the purchase of two 15 megawatt power generators. Namah posed seven questions in his complaint letter to police to investigate further. The questions include;

why Prime Minister and State Enterprise Minister Ben Micah have not disclosed the purchase of the diesel generators to cabinet in December 2013; why K50 million was wired to LR group and not Israel General Electric Corp; why Tax Clearance Certificate by IRC was to the benefit of this company when LR group was the beneficiary of the tax clearance; why IRC issued the certificate when Israel General Electric Corp had not applied for the certificate; why BPNG facilitated and effected the transfer of K50 million kina to LR Group when they did not possess a valid Tax Clearance Certificate; and Why Prime Minister stated in the NEC submission that the two 15 MW power generators were revised upwards to 26.2 megawatt generators costing K94 million.

Other questions raised were, that there was no evidence that NEC approved the K50 million paid to LR group, no contract between LR and the state to supply power generators to PNG, no contract between PNG Power and LR Group, no public tender called for the supply of the generators, other relevant agencies like the Central Supply and Tenders board and Attorney General were not consulted, and that the Prime Minister had no powers to commit more than K50 million.

  Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, on April 15th this year, said the K50 million was part payment, and was still in a trust account at the Central Bank of PNG, and will be transferred once the Israelis get the generators installed and running, including the balance of K44 million.

He also said LR group of companies was only facilitating the discussions between the state of PNG and Israeli State owned company, Israeli Electric, who further negotiated the deal with General Electric Corp. He said a good deal was negotiated to fix power problems in Port Moresby and Lae.

PNG Today/EMTV