PNGBLOGS

Bryan Kramer who was recently charged by Police on allegations of conspiracy to murder the Minister of Petroleum Nixon Duban an d two other persons describes the charges against him as ‘laughable’.   Mr Kramer was arrested last week and locked up in the Boroko cell before he was released on bail. In a media release send to Post-Courier, He said the allegations were clearly invented by Mr Duban in a desperate effort to silence him from informing the public of high-profile corruption in the Government and divert attention from Duban's own criminal prosecution in relation to bribery and fraud charges committed during 2012 General Elections.  “My conscience is clear and so is my record. I'm not surprised or phased by Duban's allegations or the police charge against me,” Mr Kramer told Post-Courier. He said his lawyer has advised him against commenting on the case as the matter is before the Courts, however he would comment on the events that led to his arrest.

A Commentary by SAM KOIM INTRODUCTION Corruption flourishes in secrecy and the ignorance of the people. Shedding light on corruption trends is therefore an integral part of curtailing the spread of this pernicious social disease hence this article. Investigation Task-Force Sweep (ITFS) initially commenced its investigation into the expenditure of development budget at the National Planning Department. The investigation uncovered instances, amongst others, where shell companies (or sometimes called “K2 companies”) were used as fronts to squander public funds. Funds were expended with either no project undertaken or project left incomplete. Detecting the fraud in such simple trend of corruption is easy. A new trend of corruption appears to be emerging in the area of expenditure of development funds. It is rather a complicated and higher level of corruption. This time, well established businesses, even multi-national corporations are used to generate illicit gains for the firms and publi

By DR ALAN MARAT MP In Tuesday’s Budget Session, which was supposed to commence at 2pm, Members of Parliament were kept waiting in the chamber until 4pm. Finance Minister, Tari-Pori MP, Hon. James Marape, followed by the Treasury Minister, Hon. Patrick Pruaitch, walked in. Thereafter the Speaker entered and Parliament commenced meeting. When the Treasurer started delivering his Budget Speech, the Opposition Members had not yet received any budget documentation, despite the speech being on ‘the budget’ ( money plan) for 2015. A little while later copies of the Treasurer’s budget speech were handed out followed by Volume 1 of the Budget documentation (which is on Economic and Development Policies), and a bundle of four Appropriation Bills. Shortly after copies of Volume 2A, 2B and 2C (which are on the 2015 Budget Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for National Government Departments), and 2D (which is on the 2015 Budget Estimates for Statutory Authorities Provincial Governments D

By PAUL REINBARA Bryan Kramer has described allegations by Minister of Petroleum and Member for Madang Nixon Duban that Kramer attempted to assassinate or conspired to kill him as absurd and baseless. Criminal Investigation Division officers are investigating the complaint by Duban against Kramer. Officers leading the investigations obtained a search warrant on Kramer's residence in Madang last week Friday. Duban is claiming Kramer conspired to have him killed at the Polling Counting Centre in Jomba Catholic Parish in Madang when Duban was declared the winner of the 2013 By-Election. Kramer was the runner up in 2013 Madang Open Seat By-Election. The National Court ordered the By-Election after finding Duban guilty of committing bribery and fraud during the 2012 General Elections for the same seat. Kramer, Duban and sixteen other candidates recontested the By-Election in September 2013. Duban was returned, however Kramer has taken it back to Court on allegations of wide-scale vo

By FRANKLIN KOLMA - POST COURIER PRIVATE businessman and administrator of social media entity "PNG News", Bryan Kramer, was arrested yesterday afternoon in Port Moresby on allegations of conspiracy to kill. This was confirmed by NCD Metropolitan Superintendent Andy Bawa yesterday after being contacted by the Post-Courier about the controversial arrest that has since gone viral on social media. Supt Bawa said Mr Kramer was arrested on allegations of conspiracy to commit murder. Supt Bawa said he had only been made aware of the arrest after being contacted by the media, adding that the arrest was prompted by a complaint laid by Madang MP Nixon Duban. The allegations were that Mr Kramer had planned at some point in time to cause the death of Mr Duban, who is Petroleum and Energy Minister in the Peter O’Neill-led Government. Supt Bawa said the allegations were serious and that questioning and further investigations would have to be made before a statement could be rel

JASON K WAUGLE "Try have a look at this circular...all government departments won't be getting their end of the year warrants except for personal emoluments...don't know how the departments will operate until the beginning of 2015 financial year???, a source said. The source expressed serious concern about how government departments are going to function because the financial year starts at the end of February or beginning of March every year and maybe all public servants might as well go home and comeback when the warrants for next year are ready to be released. In Circular Instruction No.05/2014 dated 14th November 2014 and addressed to all Heads of Departments and Statutory Bodies with the subject entitled ‘2014 Budget Savings’, Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc Kt OBE, Chief Secretary to Government from the Department of Prime Minister & National Executive Council based at Morauta Haus in Waigani, Port Moresby said the following: “I seek the urgent cooperation of al

By BRYAN KRAMER Short answer is NO . So why? The Supreme Court in the case Grand Chief Somare vs Chief Ombudsman Commission ruled a leader who is referred to a leadership tribunal is automatically suspended from duty from the date of his referral. In other words the exact time and date the Public Prosecutor writes to the Chief Justice requesting him to appoint the tribunal. This decision is based on Section 28(1) of Constitution "Where a matter has been referred to a tribunal the person alleged to have committed misconduct in office is suspended from duty." However in the cases of the Governor General, Chief Justice and Prime Minister they may only be suspended by decision of the Leadership Tribunal. This is because of the importance of the office they occupy. The Constitution Section 94 that relates to the GG, Section 182 relates to CJ and Section 142(6) the Prime Minister states that they "may be" suspended pending an investigation

By LEGAL EXPERT "Section 28 (1) of the Organic Law on Duties and Responsibilities of Leadership is that the person alleged to have committed misconduct in office is suspended from duty. Suspension is automatic. The so called precedent in Somare's case was wrong in law and not a proper precedent. THE ACTUAL WORDINGS OF S 27 (1) IS: Where a matter has been referred to a tribunal under Section 27 the person alleged to have committed misconduct in office is suspended from duty. So the normal and proper practice is that when the charges are presented to the Tribunal, the suspension automatically takes effect. The Somare precedent was wrong in law." The decision to suspend the then Prime Minister & Regional member for East Sepik Province Sir Michael Somare for 14 days without pay starting from April 4th 2011 was made by a three-member Leadership Tribunal on March 24th 2011. Three foreign Judges (from Australia, New Zealand & the UK) Roger Gyles, Sir B

By JASON K WAUGLE   PGK54.7 million allegedly claimed by prominent Law Firms in 2013 “based on political directives without the appropriate legal clearances from the Solicitor Gene ral or Attorney General” “The allegations that the payments made to Paul Paraka Lawyers fraudulently is denied out rightly and refuted,” former Deputy Secretary of Operations at the Finance Department Jacob Yafai (suspended at the time) told Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc the Chief Secretary to Government who was then acting as Finance Secretary in a letter dated June 23rd 2013. “The Department of Finance, of which I have served over almost 20 years under different secretaries does not pay or settle State liabilities, unless there is evidence of work done supported by statement of invoices or bills addressed to the State and appropriately cleared by the Line Departments including appropriate legal advice. A payment could be categorized fraudulent if the payments are made without any evidence of s