WILL AUSTRALIA ACT TO CURB PNG MONEY LAUNDERING?
by JACOB PARAKISAN Australian Government inaction on money-laundering by corrupt Papua New Guinea politicians, their business cronies and government officials has once again been exposed by the spotlight of publicity. Evidence given in a Singapore corruption hearing shows that former Prime Minister Michael Somare and his son Arthur used bribe money to pay off residential properties bought in Cairns a few years earlier. The deal, in which Somare was secretly paid $US784,000 (K2.3 million), involved the laundering by Somare and his accomplices of $US3.6 million (K10 million) intended for setting up community colleges in PNG. The court established that the $US784,000 was deposited in Somare’s Standard Chartered bank account in three payments, labelled “housing”. One of those convicted in the Singapore money-laundering case told the court that "if you don’t pay to the PM PNG you will not be able to get business from PNG.” Singaporean Lim Ai Wah, who was sentenced to fi