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Lest We Forget

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Lest We Forget A review of 20 unresolved issues of national concern 2007 – 2017 1 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................ 3 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 TIMELINE OF EVENTS ......................................................................................................................................... 6 1.1 Central City Project....................................................................................................................................... 7 1.2 Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone .................................................................................................................. 7 1.3 5-star Boroko Casino Hotel........................................................................................................................... 7 1.4 Sir Hubert Murray Stadium .......................................................................................................................... 8 2.0 STATE-SANCTIONED LAND GRABS .................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Special Agriculture & Business Lease ........................................................................................................... 9 2.2 Konebada Petroleum Park ............................................................................................................................ 9 2.3 Manumanu Land Deal ................................................................................................................................ 10 3.0 STATE AGENCIES LACKING ACCOUNTABILITY ................................................................................................. 10 3.1 National Identification Card ....................................................................................................................... 10 3.2 Border Development Authority .................................................................................................................. 11 3.3 Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals ................................................................................................................. 11 4.0 STATE ABUSE OF ASSETS AND FUNDS ............................................................................................................ 11 4.1 Rehabilitation of Education Sector Infrastructure ..................................................................................... 12 4.2 Boram Hospital ........................................................................................................................................... 12 4.3 National Housing Corporation .................................................................................................................... 12 5.0 STATE LAXNESS TO CRITICAL BILLS ................................................................................................................. 13 5.1 Independent Commission Against Corruption ........................................................................................... 13 5.2 Whistle-Blower Legislation ......................................................................................................................... 13 5.3 Sovereign Wealth Fund .............................................................................................................................. 14 6.0 STATE TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE .......................................................................................................................... 14 6.1 Department of Finance Commission of Inquiry ......................................................................................... 14 6.2 Djoko Tjandra ............................................................................................................................................. 15 6.3 UPNG Police Shooting Inquiry .................................................................................................................... 15 RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 16 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................................................... 17 ANNEX................................................................................................................................................................... 19 1.0 The case clusters ........................................................................................................................................ 19 2.0 The cases as per the evaluation template and unclustered ....................................................................... 20 COVER IMAGE: Entry from 2013 ‘Bring Corruption to Light’ Photo Exhibition organised by Transparency International PNG. On 21st May 2013, the Department of Health confiscated a batch of out-dated medicines from a private hospital in Port Moresby. This particular product with its instruction written in a foreign language did not meet the requirements of the Pharmaceutical Board of PNG. The product was still on the shelf despite its June 2011 expiry date and was confiscated and removed in May 2013 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is a systemic review of selected corruption and poor governance cases in Papua New Guinea over a 10-year period (2007-2017). It is mainly based on publicly-available information including newspaper articles, online reports, and telephone interviews and email correspondence with individuals familiar with the issues. There have been instances where the source of the information requested anonymity. The report ends with a list of recommendations to Transparency International (TIPNG), state agencies and non-state entities. It should be noted that while some of the names of individuals who have been accused of corruption have been mentioned, they remain innocent until proven guilty by a competent court of law. The 20 selected corruption cases have been organised into six clusters (see table below). See the Annex for the case clusters (page 19) and the cases evaluation template (page 20). The case clusters 1 Risky State investments 2 State-sanctioned land grabs 3 State agencies lacking accountability 4 State abuse of assets and funds 5 State laxness to critical bills 6 State travesty of justice 3 4 INTRODUCTION Papua New Guinea has become a land of lost opportunity with poor governance preventing the nation from reaching its full potential to enable growth, peace and prosperity for its 8 million people. The improper use of public funding and resources by individuals and state agencies and the lack of accountability and transparency in major government-funded projects have created an air of uncertainty and enabled a conducive environment for improper conduct. The drafters of the Papua New Guinea Constitution in the pre-independence period called for the equitable distribution of the nation’s wealth among all citizens. But that appeal has over the years been skewed by individuals in positions of power in their favour, marginalising thousands of people and communities and ensuring that the wealth of the nation remained in the hands of an elite few. The country’s weak institutional structures continue to make the different arms of government and agencies vulnerable to poor governance. The 20 cases have been grouped under 6 different clusters and were put under those different categories based on their thematic relationships. For example, under Cluster 1 (Risky State Investments) are Central City Project, Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone, 5-Star Boroko Casino Hotel and Sir Hubert Murray Stadium. These projects share the commonality of being projects where the State made a direct investment in the form of public funds (including concessional loans), the leasing of State land or tax holidays to the project developer or manager. Refer to the Annex for the different case clusters and their colour coding – the colour coding should be used to read the Timeline of Events. The different colour coding used in the Timeline of Events show the relationship of the different events with the 6 Clusters. 5 TIMELINE OF EVENTS 6 1.0 RISKY STATE INVESTMENTS Successive PNG governments have in the last decade invested public funding in ventures that lacked clear guidelines on their ownership, had no guarantees of returns on investment, lack critical financial information and did not promote public engagement. Ultimately the lack of transparency and accountability in State-funded business ventures has often led to the premature closure of the projects and the loss of millions of Kina in public funds. 1.1 Central City Project The Central City Project at Bautama, a 30-minute drive from Port Moresby, headlines the list of risky State investment projects in the last decade. The project was commissioned by the Central Provincial Government with the support of the National Government on October 9, 2007 (Government, 2007). To date, in 2017, no identifiable infrastructure has been built at the site next to the Magi Highway except for three houses occupied by policemen and their families. There is no paper-trail on the project and it is not known how much public funding was allocated – either
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