Namah calls on PNG PM Marape to resign over UBS Loan saga

 Leader of the Papua New Guinea Opposition Hon. Belden Norman Namah has called on Prime Minister James Marape to resign over the controversial UBS Loan. Mr.Namah says Prime Minister Mr James Marape is on record as defending the UBS record and must admit it before the Commission of Inquiry.

On 5th June 2014, Mr Marape in his then capacity as Finance Minister made the following media statement in support of the UBS loan which was carried in the National newspaper the next day.

“I am shocked by the comments made by John Napu,” Marape was quoted in the news article. 

“He does not know what he (Napu) is talking about when it comes to this deal with the Oil Search share. 

“More importantly it is not a new loan, it has never been a new loan. It is simply replacing another loan. 

“He should get it into his head that this loan is replacing the IPIC loan, which we had for over many years to finance our participation in the LNG project

“We have not made any mistake or any error in our investment, it is only idiotic that people like John Napu who lacks commercial experience and knowledge and continue misleading our people on what the real benefits of these projects include.”

Mr John Napu was the lawyer who represented sacked former Treasurer Don Polye when he took the UBS Loan affair to court but the case was dismissed by the National Court.

Mr Napu suggested at the time that the Ombudsman Commission ought to consider prosecuting three people involved in the loan deal under the Leadership Code.

Mr Napu did not name Mr Marape.

The Leader of the Opposition said: “Mr Don Polye’s evidence before the Injia Commission of Inquiry into the UBS Loan seems consistent with his stance all along.

“On the contrary, Mr Marape is telling the tribunal something drastically different from his public position on the loan in 2014.

“Marape told a University of PNG forum that the loan did not require tabling of documents before Parliament. He said the country would not go broke and that PNG needed a national company (Oil Search) with a strong balance sheet. There is an EM footage that shows Mr Marape saying this.

Mr Namah said: “This would suggest to me that Mr Marape is lying. It is he “who lacks commercial experience and knowledge and continues misleading our people.

“I reiterate that Mr Marape is a person of interest and ought to own up or stop talking down his part in the loan and switching all the blame to the former Prime Minister.

“It is very disgraceful to see the Prime Minister blatantly lying through his teeth. I am calling on James Marape to RESIGN as Prime Minister in disgrace for lying to a Royal Commission of Enquiry which he established and to the people of Papua New Guinea. 

Statement

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