Some criticisms of the Australian Banking System, and Government
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