O'Steal's last ditch plea for more cash before tribunal.

By JEFFREY RUNDUALI

Prime Minister Peter O’Steal, is making a last desperate attempt to get his hands on as much taxpayers' cash as possible before his leadership tribunal sits this month. Ministers are complaining that he is putting heavy presssure on them to get NEC submissions in as a matter of urgency - especially submissions involving large multi-million-kina contracts or large spending items.

One well-placed political source says O’Steal is telling his Ministers to fast-track submissions for rubber-stamping so that money is available as quickly as possible. “PM is panicking that he will not have access to cash once the tribunal sits,” the source says. “He is trying to get as much money as possible for himself and his cronies  for 2015.”

The source says Ministers are being told to bypass the usual checks and balances in readiness for a series of NEC meetings. They are also being told to look at other ways of fast-tracking spending within their own portfolios, and to notify PM O’Steal the moment opportunities are identified.

NEC decisions already approved under these  desperate tactics, or in the pipeline for approval soon, include:
  • Motukea Port Relocation – K1 billion (K600 million payment to Curtains Bros for Motukea Port by State and K400 million Contract to Curtains to complete Construction of Motukea Port
  • Lae Tidal Basin - US$300 million to China Harbor Engineering Corp for stage two of the port construction
  • Final payment of K700 million for Lae to Nazab Road construction to China Railway Constructions
  • K1 billion for MRDC-OK Tedi Landowner Hotel Complex near Bishop Brothers and State Grant of K400 million
  • State of the art International Hospital in Enga Province – K350 million to China Railway Construction
  • K300 million for the Ialibu-Pangia University;
  • $US10 million fire sale of bankrupt Tolukuma Mine

Other submissions to be rammed through NEC include new contracts for Lae Roads (PM O’Steal has suggested that K100 million would be a suitable figure), and more contracts for NCD roads and the SP Games.

Minister for Public Enterprises Ben Micah is also being pressured to make submissions on power industry agreements and contracts (mostly expected to benefit LR Group of Israel) and the declaration of dividends by State-Owned Enterprises. The source says Micah is likely to agree to PM O’Steal’s demands. O’Steal has also instructed his puppets within SOEs to notify him of any new contracts likely to be let, or tenders to be called.

Ministers are most concerned about meeting PM O’Steal’s demands as there is a growing likelihood of high-level official investigations being mounted into these and other suspicious or illegal deals like the UBS loan scam and the PNG Power-LR group generator scandal. Investigations have already identified the key figures and processes in both deals and further more detailed official  inquiries are likely in the coming months.

The procedural irregularities and highly suspect financial arrangements being demanded by PM O’Steal are putting Ministers in positions of extreme vulnerability to investigation by the Ombudsman Commission, the Auditor-General and the RPNGC Fraud Squad.

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