Pruiatch must come clean on claims of Wrongdoing , says O'Neill
FORMER PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has called on the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Pruaitch, to come clean on any information he has on his claims of wrongdoing during past governments.
In a statement, Minister Pruaitch said the extent of misappropriation of government funds by the former regime would never be fully uncovered.
"The former Prime Minister has failed to cooperate with the Commission of Inquiry into his government's K3 billion UBS loan scandal, where funds lost are 130 times greater than the Initial K23 million Covid-19 budget,” he said.
Mr O’Neill said the outburst by the former Treasurer had more to do with the Government’s fear of releasing true details on how money was being wasted on the State of Emergency.
“The cheap political point scoring by Patrick Pruaitch is a sign that the government is very sensitive to any question relating to the misuse of funds on the SoE,” he said.
“The small group in the executive government continue to show to PNG that they are not capable of providing the leadership the country needs, they just hang around Waigani scheming and play political games for self-interest.
“There are many questions that need to be answered in relation to the misuse of public monies on this SOE, but instead of providing real figures on how much is being wasted to pay for hire cars and consultants, the best the government can do is go on the attack.
“The current Treasurer was the person who raised the questions, so why can the government not provide answers and back this up with facts?
“Covid-19 is a health issue, it is not a policing matter, and money must be properly spent on testing and the provision of personal protection equipment to keep our health care workers safe.
“There are people suffering and lives being lost because of this disorganized SoE.
"The food shortages around the country are not because of the coronavirus, people are going hungry because of the terrible mismanagement of the SoE and heavy handedness in the wrong areas.
“The Government does not even know how many Covid-19 cases there are in the country and contact tracing is not proven to be effective.
How is it that of the eight declared cases, there is no real knowledge on how they became infected and who they in turn infected?
"Infections do not appear in isolation, they are linked to other people and groups, and most countries are able to trace these connections and prevent further infections.
“We also need to know the data on any increase in deaths that might be thought to be TB or Malaria, but could possible by be Covid-19, but without testing no one knows.
“When Pruaitch was Opposition Leader not many months ago he was very vocal about government mismanagement and waste, but he went silent when he was bought off by Marape offering him a Ministry.”
Mr O’Neill said Mr Pruaitch needed to release more information to support his allegations.
“Pruaitch was Treasurer and Marape was Finance Minister for most of our time in Government.
“The two of them were in charge of the cheque book, so if there were corrupt deals they would have been at the centre of these arrangements.
“They have an obligation to provide concrete and credible evidence to support these serious allegations. But they do not reveal details because there is nothing to show.
“I am looking forward to attending the UBS Commission of Inquiry when it finally gets moving into proper hearings.
“As part of this I again call on the former Treasurer and the former Finance Minister to present evidence they claim to have to this political motivated Inquiry.
“The truth is that he was a minister when Somare sold out PNG to the Arabs and this was the problem we sought to fix and bring back a national ownership stake in our oil and gas sector through legitimate investment,” Mr O’Neill said.
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In a statement, Minister Pruaitch said the extent of misappropriation of government funds by the former regime would never be fully uncovered.
Mr O’Neill said the outburst by the former Treasurer had more to do with the Government’s fear of releasing true details on how money was being wasted on the State of Emergency.
“The cheap political point scoring by Patrick Pruaitch is a sign that the government is very sensitive to any question relating to the misuse of funds on the SoE,” he said.
“The small group in the executive government continue to show to PNG that they are not capable of providing the leadership the country needs, they just hang around Waigani scheming and play political games for self-interest.
“There are many questions that need to be answered in relation to the misuse of public monies on this SOE, but instead of providing real figures on how much is being wasted to pay for hire cars and consultants, the best the government can do is go on the attack.
“The current Treasurer was the person who raised the questions, so why can the government not provide answers and back this up with facts?
“Covid-19 is a health issue, it is not a policing matter, and money must be properly spent on testing and the provision of personal protection equipment to keep our health care workers safe.
“There are people suffering and lives being lost because of this disorganized SoE.
"The food shortages around the country are not because of the coronavirus, people are going hungry because of the terrible mismanagement of the SoE and heavy handedness in the wrong areas.
“The Government does not even know how many Covid-19 cases there are in the country and contact tracing is not proven to be effective.
How is it that of the eight declared cases, there is no real knowledge on how they became infected and who they in turn infected?
"Infections do not appear in isolation, they are linked to other people and groups, and most countries are able to trace these connections and prevent further infections.
“We also need to know the data on any increase in deaths that might be thought to be TB or Malaria, but could possible by be Covid-19, but without testing no one knows.
“When Pruaitch was Opposition Leader not many months ago he was very vocal about government mismanagement and waste, but he went silent when he was bought off by Marape offering him a Ministry.”
Mr O’Neill said Mr Pruaitch needed to release more information to support his allegations.
“Pruaitch was Treasurer and Marape was Finance Minister for most of our time in Government.
“The two of them were in charge of the cheque book, so if there were corrupt deals they would have been at the centre of these arrangements.
“They have an obligation to provide concrete and credible evidence to support these serious allegations. But they do not reveal details because there is nothing to show.
“I am looking forward to attending the UBS Commission of Inquiry when it finally gets moving into proper hearings.
“As part of this I again call on the former Treasurer and the former Finance Minister to present evidence they claim to have to this political motivated Inquiry.
“The truth is that he was a minister when Somare sold out PNG to the Arabs and this was the problem we sought to fix and bring back a national ownership stake in our oil and gas sector through legitimate investment,” Mr O’Neill said.
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