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SYMBOLIC SLEEZEBAG OF THE CORRUPT PETER O'NEILL REGIME - RIMBINK PATO OF WAPENAMANDA

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by SAMSON LENKI WALO The recently published photo of "The Duck" at Jackson's airport, in all his glorious obesity, doing some kind of deal on his mobile phone, may go down in history as a classic, symbolic picture of what Peter O'Neill's government has come to be known for: corruption sleeze and greed. It's not just The Duck's image of uncontrollable gluttony. Examine his history and you will discover that even the harshest interpretations of what that big fat belly represents behind the scenes are no exaggeration. The story of Rimbink Pato is a story that covers more than 20 years. It intertwines in an intriguing way with other notables, including Paul Paraka and former MP Peter Yama of Madang. INTRIGUING INTERRELATED TECHNIQUES OF PATO, YAMA AND PARAKA Let's start with the basics. Rimbink Pato is a lawyer. Not a particularly good lawyer, but one who was determined to get rich. The way Pato got rich, and the wa

BAD GOVERNMENT LOANS MADE PNGBC OBSOLETE, BSP ON THE VERGE OF REPEATING HISTORY

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by MICHAEL J PASSINGAN Bank South Pacific is increasingly propping up the corrupt and financially compromised O’Neill Regime, exposing itself to higher and higher risk and putting itself outside its prudential guidelines. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, who as head of PNG Banking Corporation drove the bank into bankruptcy, forcing its merger with BSP, has been pressuring BSP to lend more and more money to his Government and his failing SOEs. Since Mr O’Neill took Government midway through 2011, BSP’s lending to the Government and Public Authorities has exploded. At the same time corruption, waste and mismanagement within Government – especially in SOEs under Minister Ben Micah – reached record levels. And it continues to increase. In 2010 BSP;’s accounts showed it had a negligible K116 million in loans to Government and Public Authorities, or 3% of its portfolio. As at 31 December 2014 (the latest full-year BSP accounts available) the bank had K1.12 billion in loans to Gov

INTERNATIONAL BONDS MARKETS AND BANKS DON'T TRUST O'NEILL LIES AFTER SOVEREIGN BOND FAILURE

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by MICHAEL JOSEPH PASSINGAN On 17 March PNG Blogs revealed that Peter O’Neill has secretly begged the World Bank for a loan of up to K1 billion. On 22 March we revealed that international agencies are about to downgrade Papua New Guinea’s credit rating once again – after already being downgraded late last year. Now some good news – the economy and national finances have been damaged so badly by O’Neill’s reckless borrowing and wasteful spending that his proposed $US1 billion sovereign bond issue is dead - D.E.A.D. This is good news because it means the nation’s indebtedness will not increase by $US1 billion in the immediate future. It means the long-suffering people will not have more debt to repay each year. IT MEANS THERE WON’T BE $US1 BILLION FOR O’NEILL TO STEAL AND WASTE The failure of the bond issue proves that international money markets won’t lend a toea to O’Neill’s corrupt regime unless it is at unaffordable penalty interest rates. Such unaffordable interest

Some criticisms of the Australian Banking System, and Government

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by MICHAEL J PASSINGAN Recent attempts to transfer money from Papua New Guinea to Australia highlight growing concerns about money-laundering between the two countries. The Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill, transferred K200 million to Australia late last year, and shortly afterwards one of his special lady friends, Ni Cragnolini, transferred K50 million. Some years before more than K100 million of public funds was washed through the Commonwealth Bank in Lismore, NSW, in a self-evidently illegal transaction. The Australian authorities refused to take action on this transfer when requested to do so by PNG. Indeed, the then Australian Treasurer, Wayne Swan, did not even bother to reply to requests for action. It is not known whether AUSTRAC, Australia’s money-laundering watchdog, stopped the latest transfers, or whether it even knew about them. It is not known whether the PNG and Australian banks involved reported the transactions as possibly suspicious. The chances are t

PNG SHOULD BRACE FOR A LOOMING FINANCIAL CRISES - MORAUTA

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by SIR MEKERE MORAUTA   Papua New Guinea needs to take urgent action to save itself from a looming economic and financial storm, former Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta said today. Sir Mekere, an economist and former head of Treasury, the Bank of Papua New Guinea and other institutions, said the nation cannot continue on its present course. “The Prime Minister has had plenty of warning from his own expert advisers in Treasury and from eminent foreign institutions and observers,” Sir Mekere said. “Good senior people in Treasury have been side-lined or sacked, or shipped out if a foreigner. Anyone who raises concerns suffers personal attack from the Prime Minister. “Or, as with the peaceful protestors who gathered at Unagi Oval on 26 October, being set upon and bashed up by the Police, no doubt on orders from above. “He has ignored all advice, and now the nation is suffering the consequences.” The latest warnings come from the international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S

SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT BANK SOUTH PACIFIC

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Entrepreneur Link PNG If you are a BSP customer, you seriously need to read this. This concerns your money in BSP bank. “When we first wanted to paint the bank green, everyone thought we were crazy” These where the words of former CEO of Bank South Pacific (BSP), Ian Clyne during a media briefing in Port Moresby. Bank South Pacific has a colorful history in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and its history spans over 58 years of successful operation in PNG soils. The green money machine has seen an aggressive growth and expansion over the years establishing over 44 branches and 44 sub-branches according to the website PNG Facts . The current CEO of BSP, Robin Fleming has this to say about the presence of BSP in PNG. “Having such a large physical presence, despite the high cost of maintenance, means that our customers don’t have to travel far when undertaking banking transactions” The site PNG Facts notes that BSP has 1.4 million customers. However, not all BSP’s 1.4 million

PSHOP Money Trail Leads to Prime Minister Peter O'Niell

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by PAUL J REINBARA The Prime Minister was quoted in the Post Courier of 21st August 2012 as announcing the National Executive Council decision to terminate the K31.52 million Public Service Home Ownership Program (PSHOP) contract and the contractor, Australasia Pacific Panel Limited (AUSPAC), has offered to repay the money in full. Mr O’Neill said significant increases in property development and building costs over the last five years had made it impossible for the contractor to deliver fully serviced land and 200 houses at Eight Mile in the National Capital District. Mr O’Neill commended Australasia Pacific Panel Limited for its offer to repay monies it had received from the State for the PSHOP project. “The vast majority of cancelled contracts with the State end up costing the State millions of Kina. It is to the credit of the contractor and its executives and affiliates that the monies advanced by the State are being repaid in full,” he said Although the announcemen

IFC'S US$140M SPLASH IN BSP, IS THERE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

By: Dionisia Tabureguci of ISLAND BUSINESS It wasn’t too long ago that a partnership between the World Bank and its sister organisation the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in some countries in the region was frowned upon. Critics called it a ‘conflict of interest’. Through multi-million dollar loans, the IFC—the World Bank’s private sector financing arm—was funding the Pacific expansion of Irish-owned Digicel. At the same time, the World Bank was offering policy and technical assistance to governments in the region interested in opening up their telecommunications market. Words like “double standard” and “inappropriate” were used to describe their involvement in the Pacific’s telecommunication market. The World Bank’s Country Director for Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Pacific at the time, Nigel Roberts, had to defend the organisations’ involvements as independent of each other. “The process we’re involved in on the Wo

IFC'S US$140M SPLASH IN BSP, IS THERE A CONFLICT OF INTEREST?

By: Dionisia Tabureguci of ISLAND BUSINESS It wasn’t too long ago that a partnership between the World Bank and its sister organisation the International Finance Corporation (IFC) in the deregulation of the telecommunications sector in some countries in the region was frowned upon. Critics called it a ‘conflict of interest’. Through multi-million dollar loans, the IFC—the World Bank’s private sector financing arm—was funding the Pacific expansion of Irish-owned Digicel. At the same time, the World Bank was offering policy and technical assistance to governments in the region interested in opening up their telecommunications market. Words like “double standard” and “inappropriate” were used to describe their involvement in the Pacific’s telecommunication market. The World Bank’s Country Director for Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and the Pacific at the time, Nigel Roberts, had to defend the organisations’ involvements as independent of each other. “The process we’re involved in on the