PNGBLOGS

by BRYAN KRAMER O'Neill Government borrowed a further K654 million in the last two weeks to stay afloat. The funds were raised through auctioning of Government Treasury Bills by the Central Bank. K198 million was raised on 17 February 2016 to meet the public servants pay run for payroll 5 and K455 million was raised just last Wednesday's (26/2/16) to ensur e this payroll is met. Central Bank website defines Treasury Bills as a financial debt instrument issued by the Central Bank on behalf of the Government to raise funds in order to finance budget deficits. A budget deficit is when Government expenditure is higher than revenue (spending more than it earns). In a period of just four months November 2015 to February 2016 O'Neill Government has borrowed K4.1 Billion domestically through the auction of Government Treasury bills. The debt largely held by domestic banks and superannuation funds. This calculates to an average of K1 Billion a month. Record d

by JAMES PARAKISAN Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Agriculture Minister Tommy Tomscoll are forcing up the price of food so that more and more people cannot afford basic items such as flour and rice and other imported items. Even prices of local foods are increasingly expensive. The proof - Bank of Papua New Guinea says food prices rose almost 25% in the 12 months to December 31 last year. This is more pain and suffering for the people because of the longlong policies, waste corruption and mismanagement of O’Neill and his Government colleagues like Tomscoll. Tomscoll as Minister for Agriculture is mainly to blame because of his ban on vegetable imports in the middle of last year. But blame also is with O’Neill, whose reckless, wasteful and corrupt borrowings have caused the kina’s value to crash, making all imported food more expensive. In its Monthly Economic Bulletin for January 2016, the central bank reports that fruit and vegetable prices rose by 24

by JAMES MARAPE MP Good evening all who are friends with me on FB. My last FB post was in my disgust in the manner in which Paul Paraka Lawyers (PP lawyers) without conscience to the harm they do to name and reputation of others continue to bring in questionable claims for settlement by State. Today ( 1st of March 2016) PP lawyers asks me to apologize and withdraw the statement I wrote on the basis that they had secretly without many of us knowing, had a Supreme Court order of 11 July 2014, in the decision of their 2006/2007 matter against state ( SCR 15 of 2006 and SCR 3 of 2007). His letter reminded me and I quote him " Order # 3 all persons or parties connected directly or indirect in respect of all matters emanating or arising from the investigation and disputes over the PP legal bills, including those involved in the relevant court proceedings, police investigations and members of the public at large are restrained and prohibited from making or publishing any m

WILL PNC MPs MOVE A VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE AGAINST PETER O'NEILL TO SAVE THEMSELVES BEFORE 2017? by VINCENT MOSES The above question has been asked a number of times over the life of this Parliament but so far, it seems no MP within PNC has been brave enough or popular enough to wrestle the leadership of the party away from Peter O'Neill. With so many controversies surrounding the leadership of Peter O'Neill, many of which are now threatening the very survival of this nation, questions are being asked if his own MPs will finally decide that enough is enough. PNC Party is becoming increasingly unpopular as controversy after controversy continues to follow this Prime Minister and this government. Judging from comments on Social Media, particularly Facebook, the overwhelming indication is that PNC will face a huge challenge and a huge defeat in the 2017 elections. History has shown that the people of Papua New Guinea have spoken during elections wh

by BRYAN KRAMER This week there has been a number of rulings in the Supreme Court relating to the warrant of arrest against the.Prime Minister Peter O'Neill. I understand many will be confused about the reasons behind the rulings and its effect on whether or not it will ultimately lead to his arrest. I've decided to post this article to simplify the issues for ordinary Papua New Guineans in an effort to better assist them understand the reasoning behind these decisions and their effect. There are three main cases currently before the Court that relate to the warrant of arrest against the Prime Minister, two are Supreme Court proceedings SC87/2014 and SC7/2016 and the third the National Court proceedings OS485/2014. The other cases involving Sam Koim and the Prime Minister's (PM's) referral to face the Leadership Tribunal are less significant at this point so I've decided to leave them out of this discussion. Supreme Court Appeal proceeding

by MICHAEL J PASSINGAN The Swiss Bank behind Prime Minister Peter ONeill’s’s illegal and corrupt loan to buy 10% of Oil Search is facing new allegations of money-laundering and financial fraud.   UBS is being investigated over money laundering and serious organised tax fraud in Belgium. A statement from prosecutors said: "The Swiss bank is suspected of having directly, and not via its Belgian subsidiary, approached Belgian clients to convince them to set up constructions aimed at evading taxes."   UBS said it would "defend itself against any unfounded allegations". The prosecutors' statement said the judicial investigation came after "excellent" help from French authorities, who had been looking at allegations that UBS had been encouraging clients to open accounts in Switzerland to avoid tax between the years 2004-12.   The US has also been looking into whether the bank allowed its US customers to hide their wealth from the Internal Revenue Servi

by MICHAEL JOSEPH PASSINGAN Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has just cost Papua New Guinea almost K1.5 billion because of his reckless, corrupt and unnecessary borrowings. The loss is on the refinancing of his illegal K3 billion UBS-Oil Search loan. The deal was done in secret in Sydney earlier this month to avoid having to reveal the massive loss that the Prime Minister, UBS and Oil Search have inflicted on the nation. Details of the deal were not revealed when Kumul Petroleum MD Wapu Sonk announced it over the weekend.  Mr O’Neill’s secret loss comes at a time when the Government is virtually bankrupt, unable to pay public servants and cutting spending on essential services such as health, education and power generation.  It will add to the record and illegal levels of debt already incurred by the Prime Minister. It will contribute to further worsening of the living standards of ordinary Papua New Guineans. The refinancing of the UBS-Oil Search loan is even worse tha

by JOHN KAUPA The current Minister for Foreign Affairs Rimbink Pato and the then Minister for Justice and Attorney General Kerenga Kua both conspired, or otherwise played the most dirtiest trick on the people of PNG when they paid themselves Millions ( over K8 million) of public funds. Today Kerenga Kua struts around putting on the robe of righteousness, seeking to fight corruption and publicly portraying himself as MR CLEAN on the public affairs of the nation, while his mate Pato plies the Australians with his silvery tongue. Well what do the facts speak of these men? The Fourth Category of payments (that Mr Wafai refers to in a Statement in his own Defence to the then Chief Secretary when he was suspended for making payments to Paul Paraka) are payments made by Finance Department out of the Attorney General or Justice Department Vote that are directed by Politics and Politicians. What work of equivalent value did Posman Kua Aisi Lawyers do by way of instructio

by JAMES MARAPE MP   Today I was informed of a circulation in FB and PNGBLOGS.COM website on latest Paraka Lawyers claim for money at Finance again for so call outstanding unpaid bills. Using this public forum may I confirm that this law firm unashamedly submits yet again another claim of K24.1million addressed to Finance Secretary. I was presented a copy of this claim and I feel this firm has lost its human and moral mind. For them to have the audacity to resubmit another claim after causing so much pain to some of us when in late October 2012 i instructed for State Solicitor to verify the Bills he submitted that time, yet he and few officers colluded to run four separate payments ( 14m im November 2012, 8m in Dec 2012, 6m in March 2013, 8m in May 2013). This firms appetite for money has caused many person loss of job, many family suffer, many of us fighting to clear ourselves because the firm's continuous scrupulous manner of bill submission. The taxation