PGK54.7 million allegedly claimed by prominent Law Firms in 2013


By JASON K WAUGLE
 
PGK54.7 million allegedly claimed by prominent Law Firms in 2013 “based on political directives without the appropriate legal clearances from the Solicitor General or Attorney General”

“The allegations that the payments made to Paul Paraka Lawyers fraudulently is denied out rightly and refuted,” former Deputy Secretary of Operations at the Finance Department Jacob Yafai (suspended at the time) told Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc the Chief Secretary to Government who was then acting as Finance Secretary in a letter dated June 23rd 2013.

“The Department of Finance, of which I have served over almost 20 years under different secretaries does not pay or settle State liabilities, unless there is evidence of work done supported by statement of invoices or bills addressed to the State and appropriately cleared by the Line Departments including appropriate legal advice. A payment could be categorized fraudulent if the payments are made without any evidence of statement of invoice for work done and if there is no appropriate Departmental and legal clearances from the appropriate Line Departments,” Jacob Yafai revealed.

Jacob Yafai went on to describe in his letter to the Chief Secretary to Government 4 different categories of payments in the case of legal bills, as follows:

“In the case of legal bills and Court Order payments from the Department of Justice and Attorney General, we have four (4) categories of payments.

1. The first are in respect of fresh legal bills of Lawyers and Court Order payments coming from the Solicitor General’s Office with the necessary legal clearance from the Solicitor General or Attorney General. These are new claims that come through so the Department of Finance prioritizes the payments. If the legal bills or Court Orders are large, progressive payments are made based on the existing legal clearance from the Solicitor General if those clearances have not been revoked or withdrawn.
2. Then there are past outstanding claims that have been cleared by the former Attorney General’s and Solicitor General’s that have been outstanding for some time. Where appropriate Court orders and legal clearances of the earlier Solicitor General or attorney General are on foot and have not been withdrawn, and they are on-going payments, the Department of Finance in its judgment settles those claims to clear the back log of outstanding payments.
3. Then there are legal bills and Court Orders that have the appropriate legal clearance from the Solicitor General or Attorney General past or present, and are directed to be settled by way of political directives. These sets of claims are always given priority to because of the political nature of the directives.
4. Finally, there are payments that are done to Law Firms based on political directives without the appropriate legal clearances from the Solicitor General or Attorney General.
A number of recent payments to a number of Law Firms fall into the fourth category. Some of those payments are as follows:-

1. Posman, Kua Aisi Lawyers - K5.0 million
(Claim of K14 million)
2. Steeles Lawyers -K3.0 million
(Claim of K12.5 million)
3. Thomas & Co. Lawyers -K5.0 million
(Claim of K10.2 million)
4. Twivey Lawyers -K10 million
5. Warner Shand Lawyers -K6 million
6. Mawa Lawyers -K2.0 million

Paraka Lawyers legal bills fall into the third category. These are in respect of legal bills for legal work done by the Law Firm in the past on behalf of the State and the following documents and departmental and political approvals and directives were in place to validate the payments:-

1. The legal bills were provided (some 4500 different legal bills). This sufficiently constituted evidence of the actual legal work carried out by Paraka Lawyers. (Copies of those legal bills are attached).

2. There was appropriate legal clearance by the former Solicitor General on instruction from the former Attorney General on various dates – copies of these legal clearance letters are also attached.
Jacob Yafai, from Karapia village in Yangoru, East Sepik Province who has a Diploma in Accounting, Bachelor of Commerce degree and law degree from UPNG and MBA & CMA degrees from an Australian University also made reference to his Contract of Employment by quoting:
“sClause 20 (h): Is guilty of disgraceful or improper conduct in his/her official duties or otherwise” and said “I strongly deny breaching clause 20 (h) of the Employment Contract where I have never been guilty of disgraceful or improper conduct in my official duties or otherwise. I am innocent until proven guilty nor am I guilty of disgraceful or improper conduct in my official duties or otherwise as I was only complying to directions and approvals from my superiors. I must state here in no uncertain terms that I have not been found ‘guilty’ by any competent authority of being guilty, disgraceful or improper in my conduct. It is erroneous to presume guilt on my part before it is proven. In the meantime, I am entitled to my presumption of innocence.”

Mr Yafai, who was first charged by police for fraud in 2006 but managed to have the charge ‘struck out’, was arrested again on the 12th of September 2013 and charged for facilitating ‘four separate transactions adding up to more than K41.8million to Paul Paraka Lawyers’, concluded his letter by saying “I have to the best of my knowledge provided the responses accordingly to the disciplinary Charges laid against me and look forward to hear from you soon.”

The total amount allegedly claimed by the Law Firms “based on political directives without the appropriate legal clearances from the Solicitor General or Attorney General” in Mr Yafai’s letter of June 23rd 2013 amounts to PGK54.7 million of which a total of K31 million showed as being “recent payments” to the Law Firms listed as alleged by Jacob Yafai.

The amount paid out in the first half of 2013 to the Law Firms listed is believed to be much higher and does not include payments to Paul Paraka Lawyers over which Paul Paraka (who was in ‘hiding’ at the time Jacob Yafai was arrested) has already been arrested twice and charged with a total of 50 counts for receiving public funds amounting to more than PGK300 million.

Tiffany Twivey the principal of Twivey Lawyers, a controversial law firm which is believed to have received K10 million in the first half of 2013, and possibly K3 million or more in 2012 from State coffers, has featured prominently on social media since the political impasse by her vigorous defence of embattled Prime Minister Peter O’Neill who she recently said she would “live and die for”.
Commentators have publicly called upon her to admit or deny that she has received public funds to represent the Prime Minister this year in his bid to delay being arrested over his alleged role in the Parakagate scandal on corruption charges. She declined to admit or deny it, that she received public funds, citing ‘client confidentiality’; however a recent search at the Department of Treasury uncovered the following reference as found in the 2014 Midyear Economic Fiscal Outlook: "207 -Finance and Treasury Misc 1,273,100 Legal fees – brief - out to Twivey Lawyers", which indicates that Twivey Lawyers received more than 1.2 Million Kina this year alone for defending the Prime Minister.

In September, this year, Opposition Leader Belden Namah advised that he intended to write to the Ombudsman Commission and police to investigate “exorbitant payments” made to certain Law Firms. ‘When a public official is criminally implicated, it has got nothing to do with his work. It’s something to do with himself and the way he has behaved. So he is liable to pay for his own legal costs,’ Mr Namah said and added that it was a concern for Papua New Guineans when the Government was paying huge sums of money to private lawyers this way.

Last night Tiffany Twivey’s public commentary, in response to the news that the Public Prosecutor recommended that a Leadership Tribunal is convened against Peter O’Neill, raised further eyebrows so to speak. A prominent member of PNG society privately commented: “A lawyer must and should act on instructions of the client. Tiffany's outburst on the PM's referral -Is she making representations on instructions from her client? Is that the instruction of the PM for her to lash out on social media? She seems to get too emotional and too personal. Serious conflict of interest and breach of ethics.”
How much money has Twivey Lawyers received whilst Peter O’Neill has been in control of the public purse since he was first elected Prime Minister (illegitimately) in August 2011? Was it all legal and above board? That’s the upper most question in many people’s minds after it was revealed earlier this year by the Fraud Squad that Tiffany Twivey is also being investigated for the role she has played in advising the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and the payment of millions of Kina in public funds received by her law Firm. Time will tell.

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