Deception and Disillusionment: Fast Money Schemes in Papua New Guinea John Charles Nicholas Cox Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy November 2011 School of Social and Political Science The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper Abstract This thesis examines Papua New Guinean attitudes to money and modernity through an exploration of contemporary “fast money schemes” (Ponzi scams). The largest of these, U-Vistract Financial Systems, collected millions of Kina from 100,000s of “investors” on the promise of monthly returns on deposits of 100%. The scheme was declared bankrupt in 2000 but its founders escaped imprisonment, fleeing first to Solomon Islands and then to the “no go” zone of Bougainville, where the scheme re-established itself as the Royal Kingdom of Papala. U-Vistract claimed to be a Christian reform of global finance systems that would deliver abundant prosperity to Papua New Guineans. U-Vistract cultivated a moral vision of its middle-class investors as compassionate Christian patrons whose coming wealth would deliver “development” to a nation disillusioned with social inequality and the postcolonial state. U-Vistract investors emerge from this study as morally engaged members of a transnational Christian civil society. This is a surprising conclusion to draw from studying fraud but it is all the more surprising in Papua New Guinea where anthropological interest has historically constructed the “village” as the central place where social meanings are generated. Here, urban Melanesians demonstrate moral and relational sensibilities that combine global aspirations for prosperity with Papua New Guinean disillusionment with the nation. In doing so, perhaps a more individualistic rendering of Melanesia emerges but these are individuals who are also more cosmopolitan in sentiment. ii This is to certify that: (i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface, (ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, (iii) the thesis is fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. (Signed) John Cox iii Dedication To my father, who died as I was preparing for fieldwork. Dad had an active interest in the project and I deeply regret that he did not live long enough to see the thesis completed. iv Acknowledgements I begin by acknowledging my partner, Dr Georgina Phillips, who has indulged me in a rather esoteric project that has opened up adventures for both of us in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and beyond. Georgina’s hard work as an emergency physician made my life as a student very easy and I thank her for this sacrifice and support. Her professional engagements in PNG have also opened up social networks that have been very important in the completion of this research. Staff from the Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) and the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (CBSI) were very helpful in providing file material on various fast money schemes and in answering many questions. Albert Ayius from the National Research Institute of Papua New Guinea (NRI) conducted interviews with Port Moresby investors in U-Vistract and Money Rain. My dear friend Samson Rihuoha did the same with Family Charity Fund (FCF) investors in Honiara, Solomon Islands. I thank both Albert and Samson for this work. Unfortunately, because of the focus on U-Vistract in PNG, little of the Solomons material is included in this thesis. However, it has certainly shaped the analysis, particularly around questions of nation-making. I also thank NRI for organising my research visa. Divine Word University (DWU) provided accommodation, IT and other support to Georgina’s sabbatical and also kindly extended this to me. We thank Fr Jan Czuba for this. However, it is the outstanding generosity of Fr Pat Gesch, Alphonse Aime, Patrick Matbob and Dr Anastasia Sai, together with many other staff, that I must particularly acknowledge with gratitude, knowing that the omission of other much loved friends in this list is unfair. This hospitality has been extended four times: once for an initial scoping visit in 2006, then for the principal field work over six months in 2009 and then for a follow-up visit over a further five weeks in 2010, when I also assisted in the PNG Studies program (thank you to the Dean of Arts, Dr Linda Crowl). A fourth short visit was made in v October 2011. Dr Jerry Semos (now Head of PNG Studies at DWU) also provided invaluable connections for me in Buka. I thank Anthony Regan for his very warm collaboration in sharing very obscure original materials, drafts of his own work and sponsoring seminars at ANU on U-Vistract and related fields. Dr Richard Eves has also been very generous and I include some of his recent photographs in Chapter Eight. Other academics at ANU’s State Society and Governance in Melanesia Project have also been very encouraging. I would particularly like to acknowledge David Hegarty and Dr Sinclair Dinnen. Assoc Prof Martha Macintyre has been a wonderful supervisor. I am deeply grateful to her for nurturing my interest in anthropology and for her fortuitous suggestion that I work on fast money schemes. Her interest in the topic and willingness to read drafts over and again has been a remarkable commitment. Dr Benedicta Rousseau joined my supervisory panel in the last year of my candidature and has brought her keen and fresh eyes to the project, questioning assumptions that had become invisible to me and to Martha. It is a much more interesting and rigorous work because of her involvement. Assoc Prof Mary Patterson also provided invaluable critical comment on the final draft, bringing her nuanced understanding of imaginings of global capital both within Melanesia and beyond. Assoc Prof Monica Minnegal, Dr Peter Dwyer, Professor Ghassan Hage, Dr Maree Pardy and Dr Kalissa Alexeyeff (all from the University of Melbourne) have also provided inspiration, critique and encouragement through the term of my candidature. I also thank Nick Bainton for his friendship and collaboration in various seminars. Nick’s work on Personal Viability has provided an interesting parallel vi and precedent for my own work on U-Vistract. He has also been generous in commenting on draft chapters. Dr Simon Foale has also been a good friend during this process. Simon serendipitously re-introduced me to Martha at a crucial point in time. I also thank Dr Cathy Vaughan, Dr Alice Street, Dr Debra McDougall, Dr Detlev Krige, Dr Gillian Tan, Bob Swinburne, Nadiya Chushak, Sarah Hewat, Grant Walton and Anthony Pickles for their camaraderie, feedback on draft chapters and suggestions with references that I would otherwise have missed. Managing Modernity This research emerged from the Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project Managing Modernity: Capitalism, Globalisation and Governance in Melanesia. Working under Associate Professors Martha Macintyre and Mary Patterson, I collected information about fast money schemes (Ponzi scams) in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. This began with newspaper searches and preliminary visits to both countries where I amassed a considerable amount of written material: news reports, court records and propaganda from the schemes themselves. During this phase of research, I spoke with church leaders, microfinance program managers and other representatives of civil society, including indigenous academics. It became clear that the fast money schemes were a significant phenomenon involving hundreds of thousands of “investors” and that further investigation would be fruitful. This ongoing collection of documentary materials has provided a substantial resource from which to assemble a broad account of the spread of fast money schemes through PNG and Solomon Islands over the past decade. It is therefore very significant for framing the more ethnographic field work and has provided scope for crossing “scales” in the more interpretative sections of thesis that reflect on the national reach of the money schemes. vii Preceding presentations and publications There have been some earlier publications that reflect my involvement in the Managing Modernity project. A 2009 State Society and Governance in Melanesia Discussion Paper, published with Nick Bainton and emerging from two seminars with Bainton and Anthony Regan at the Australian National University, presents some of the themes that emerged from my work on the Managing Modernity research project. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Australian Anthropological Society annual conference at James Cook University in Cairns in 2006 and at the IUAES meeting at the University of Cape Town in 2006. Chapter Five of this thesis had its beginnings in these papers. In 2007, I presented a paper on the themes of clientelism and citizenship in Solomon Islands to the “Active citizenship: making bottom up accountability work” conference at Monash University, auspiced by the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) and the Development Studies programs of the University of Melbourne, Deakin University, LaTrobe University and RMIT University. Matthew Clarke and Bruce Missingham edited the proceedings as a special issue of Development in Practice. My paper (Cox 2009) does not discuss money scams but reflects on development programs through the lens of patronage: themes that do appear in this thesis. The treatment of “cargo cult” in this article prefigures some of the issues discussed in Chapter Three. I presented a revised version of this paper at the “Governance at the Local Level” Workshop at ANU in November 2008. The Managing Modernity project has also led to the publication of a volume of essays edited by Patterson and Macintyre (2011). These essays explore the intersections of capitalism, governance and Christianity in Oceania. The editors generously included my contribution, which was an updated version of a paper presented at the European Society for Oceanists (EFSO) conference at the University of St Andrews, Scotland in July 2010.