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By BRYAN KRAMER National Court presided by Chief Justice Salamo Inja this afternoon (26/2/15) dismissed a No Case Application made by Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki seeking to strike out the contempt of court proceedings against him that is currently under trial in the National Court. National Fraud & Anti-Corruption Directorate Mathew Damaru and his Deputy Timothy Guitau filed four contempt of court charges against Vaki i n relation to his alleged refusal to effect the warrant of arrest against the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in June 2014. The trial commenced on Tuesday 24th February 2015 were plaintiffs Damaru and Guitau opened their case calling six witnesses to give evidence. Damaru and Guitau were called to give evidence as well as Police Lawyer Nicholas Nirivi, ABC foreign correspondent Liam Cochrane, Adrian Mathias of Mid Week Chronicles and Malum Nalu of National. They testified Vaki stated he would not arrest the Prime Minister. Vaki was

In recent years, smart phones have allowed developing countries to leapfrog computer technologies and connect once-isolated communities to a new world of explicit images. "What the internet has facilitated is the eclipsing of boundaries of time and space," said Dr Michael Flood, a senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Wollongong who has published papers on pornography. "So it's possible for people in any part of the world with an internet connection to view an extraordinarily large range of pornographic material, quite regardless of the laws or regulatory regimes in their own countries." While there is no academic research focusing on PNG's internet porn habits, the situation in other parts of the world suggests conservative Christian values might actually be driving the desire for pornography. "For example in the US, Utah, which is a very conservative state, is the number one state to request pornography," said Dr Milton Diamond, eme

By PAUL AMATIO I decided to write this after reading through an article on Facebook regarding the status of our premier institution of learning, the University of Papua New Guinea and it’s sister institute, the University of Technology. I am not an educationalist nor am I familiar with the ins and outs of education per se in PNG or the policies of the Department of Education. I write this as an outsider but a citizen concerned with the direction and state of my country and the question of how my beloved country will look to my children, grandchildren and great grand children after I am long gone and forgotten. For every developing country, its greatest resource in my opinion, is it’s people – its human resource. It is renewable and non-perishable resource, yet it is one that is fragile and subject to the variances of human nature. And if not guided and nourished properly, it will destroy its parent, the country that gives each of us our sense of identity and belonging. For my country

By BRYAN KRAMER Part 4 - Process of Appeal This article is the last of a four part series providing insight into the recent criminal conviction sentencing and appeal process of three Members of Parliament, Paul Tiensten, Havilo Kavo and Francis Potape. Part 1-2 covered conviction process. Part 3 explained the process of sentencing and this final part will cover the process of appeal.  Following this post I will start publishing articles dealing with the business end of corruption that's crippling our great country. 1) How to get away with Corruption in PNG 2) How to rig an election in PNG 3) How to circumvent the Judicial System  Each article will expose how it's done and how to end it. So what is an Appeal? Under our judiciary system every decision made by a Court of Law is subject to appeal or review. This process of appeal or review involves a higher court reviewing the decision of a lower court to ensure it was fair and just in the circumstances

  PNGBlogs Contributor Network According to the 2007 SRC Determinations (2013 Revision), each State Minister is entitled to K110,760 annually in accommodation allowances while ordinary Members of Parliament (MPs) are entitled to K64,636 annually. Does Ben Micah and Loujaya Kouza have separate remuneration contracts from rest of the Members of Parliament? IPBC pays around K900,000 per annum in accommodation expenses for Micah to be residing at the Grand Papua Hotel in Port Moresby, while Kouza is living in a Hotel in Lae with her accommodation expenses fully paid for by the Lae District’s public funds. Can Sam Basil, Deputy Opposition Leader lay a complaint with the Ombudsman Commission to investigate these two leaders? While the efforts of Basil can be acknowledge in publishing information relating to what Parliamentarians are entitled to in accommodation allowances, it seems he is barking too much and not biting enough. Basil has the Parliamentary privilege

By SAUWAN KOMPE Puzzled and in bewilderment as to why high profile court cases of important significance, judgements kept delayed or cases being prolonged! Time is of essence that judgements should be delivered when expected instead of keeping the public in limbo. Continued procrastination of judgement is justice in denial in totality. Public would not accept purported explanations as a means to justify the delay. Public revere all levels of courts and out of respect, public is mute, however, public is denied of speedy proceedings frustrating aggrieved parties. Shouldn't this be corruption in a subtle form? I reckon it is! Public is entitled to form an opinion of otherwise. Delayed judgements and prolonging trial periods largely assist in institutionalising and nurturing corruption. No wonder corruption has permeated through every strata of governing system and is thriving. Technically, when judgement is delayed or trials prolonged, it absolutely does not assist the judiciary in

By KILA GAMOGA ANARE The Governments recent announcement to regulate customary compensation by legislation is a knee jerk reaction and not a well thought out policy decision. It is an indication of lack of intellectual leadership of this nation, a leadership that is not guided by a body of knowledge translated into policy garnered through research and wider consultation that is absolutely necessary for a growing country, and a democratic one. The autocratic style decisions of the O'Neill government (like the ill-advised UBS Loan) is a style that will continue to hurt this nation, like a life sentence. The government has failed to address its own failures in housekeeping, and is rushing to legislation as a solution that may end up hurting this nation more than do any good. No one disputes the fact that unreasonable road compensation demands is hurting this country. To set a statutory limit on how much can be claimed, can easily be legislated on the basis of a maximum valu

By BRYAN KRAMER Minister of Justice & Attorney General Ano Pala published a press statement on 10th February 2015 in both daily newspapers in the form of a letter addressed to Governor of Gulf, Havilo Kavo. Attorney General (AG) press statement was in response to Mr. Kavo's published media statement on 9th January 2015 and his letter to Gulf Provincial Assembly members stating that since he filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging his conviction by National Court by operation of Section 103(4) of Constitution he (Kavo) remains a Member of Parliament until his appeal is determined (decided). AG noted in his letter to Kavo that having read various numerous legal opinions and advice from his own lawyers including Kavo's lawyers he was of the considered view that given Kavo's current criminal conviction, sentencing and ensuring status as a prisoner of the state, although he remains a Member of Parliament by operation of Section 103(4) of Constitution he is

By CHARLES KERUA Background I am prompted to write this after reading an article on the Australia’s Financial Review on a court battle between Oil Search Ltd & Inter Oil Ltd over the development rights (or pre-emptive rights) of the Elk-Antelope oil fields in the Gulf Province; a ruling which is expected to be handed down this March 2015 in London, UK. Many intelligent people will agree that our State & its people have “thrown away” so much of our natural resources so cheaply in the name of foreign investment and foreign capital injection. (Let us keep our discussion within the mineral & petroleum sector, and leave for a while other equally important sectors like forestry and fisheries). Proponents of foreign direct investments (FDIs) in our extractive industry have meticulously “seasoned” the spin offs, or so called “economic benefits”, of FDIs such as job creation, substantial foreign reserve base/cover, and tax revenue as a rosy cover to lure the State

  By PAUL J. REINBARA The bankruptcy of PNG Power Ltd under Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and State Enterprises Minister Ben Micah should not surprise anybody. It has been shipwrecked by typical PNC political interference, corruption and greed. All the other SOEs are in the same boat for the same reasons. Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare was right to call on the Prime Minister this week to come clean on the collapse of the entire SOE system and the harm it will cause to the nation. Action needs to be undertaken immediately to try to save something from the Prime Minister’s wreckage, starting with police investigations into the activities of SOEs and Ombudsman Commission investigations into their directors and senior management. New States of Emergencies in other sectors are not the answer because all they do is allow more corruption and more mismanagement. When the illegal and unnecessary State of Emergency in the power sector was announced, it handed personal control of PPL ove