Tiensten arrested on return, out on K5000 bail.

Busted!
Papua New Guinea's former planning minister, who fled to Australia to avoid a corruption investigation, has been arrested on his return to the country.

Paul Tiensten was arrested by police and members of Taskforce Sweep as he left Port Moresby's international airport after getting off a flight from Cains.

The ABC understands he has been taken to the police fraud squad's office for questioning.

Mr Tiensten fled to Brisbane in September despite being wanted for questioning by the taskforce which is investigating allegations of widespread corruption in the national planning department.


He kept quiet as he was put in the back of a four-wheel drive and driven from the airport.

Earlier this month he told the ABC the investigation was a politically motivated witch-hunt, but declared he would return to PNG to avoid being disqualified as a member of parliament.

At the time, Mr Tiensten said he had nothing to hide but did not want to spend any time in a police lockup.

"I couldn't allow myself to be locked up. That was the reason why I then flew to Port Moresby and then I went over to Brisbane, simply because I did not agree with the manner in which the taskforce was conducting itself," he said.
Money missing

Until August Mr Tiensten was the planning minister, but he lost his portfolio when a mass defection of MPs saw the government of Sir Michael Somare thrown out of office.

One of the first acts of new prime minister Peter O'Neill was to establish a multi-agency investigation into the national planning department.

Taskforce Sweep is looking into long-running allegations that vast amounts of money earmarked for development projects have largely disappeared without tangible results.

One of the first people it sought to question was Mr Tiensten.

He has been charged with misappropriating $3 million earmarked for a high school renovation project.

ABC

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