Gamato clarifies large sum of hard cash in NCD Election Managers's possession

PNG Chief Electoral Commissioner Patilius Gamato has confirmed that NCD elections manager Terence Hetinu was in possession of a substantial amount of cash as payment for polling officials when he was taking into police custody earlier today.

He said he had confirmed with the police that he was aware of the large sum of money in the possession of Mr. Hetinu which was to be paid out to polling officials.
He confirmed that Mr. Hetinu had hard cash totalling K184, 300.00 which was later confiscated by NCD police while Mr. Hetinu was in custody.
“The money was to pay for polling officials camping allowance but because Mr. Hetinu carried the money with him, police arrested him on suspicion,” said Mr. Gamato.

Meanwhile the Electoral Commissioner has blamed the deferral of polling in all 3 electorates of NCD on the non-payment of camping funds for electoral officials by his office.
Mr. Gamato today explained that polling officials refused to take up their posts at polling venues because of the non-payment of their camping allowance and hence he made the decision to defer the polling to Friday.
“The list of polling officials was made available by Sunday so it was late for us to push their claims in for processing of their payments,” he said.PNGFM