PNGBLOGS

by BRYAN KRAMER This morning the Supreme Court three man bench (3 judges) handed down a unanimous (all in agreement) ruling dismissing Appeal proceedings SC87 of 2014 filed by Minister of Finance James Marape. Marape filed the SC87 Appeal challenging an earlier ruling of the National Court that refused the Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Marape's application (request) preventing Police from arresting them in relation to the illegal payments of K71.8 million to Paraka Lawyers. So what does it all actually mean? In short, the Supreme Court in the course of the above proceedings issued an interim stay (temporary stop order) preventing Police from arresting Marape and O'Neill including his lawyers and staff until it made a final ruling. Now that the Supreme Court has ruled against them dismissing the case it means the interim stay order issued in those proceedings have also been discharged (no longer in force). So can the Prime Minister or Marape f

by UPNG ACADEMIC Court documents registered at the Waigani Court (OS NO.715 of 2015 (JR) reveals a fishy land deal involving the UPNG Vice Chancellor, Mellam, NCD officials, some high ranking government officials and the developer Phoenix Construction Company. The developer is the same company who could not complete the Gerehu roads adequately on time and within budget. What is most absurd about this fishy deal is that it was all reached and settled verbally, though a gentlemen’s agreement. Affidavits submitted by NCD and the company involved plus other documents reveals that Mellam consented to this deal VERBALLY. There is no documentation at the University, either through the Senior Management, the Planning Committee or most importantly the University Council of any university land deal. If due diligence and proper processes were followed, records at the university would have shown the University Council’s decision and university management’s consideration of any submission fr

Breaking News: Supreme Court Discharges Orders Preventing the Arrest of Peter O'Neill and James Marape. In a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court this morning, the Supreme Court dismissed the Appeal by James Marape and further discharged restraining orders preventing the arrest of O'Neill and Marape in relation to payments made to Paraka Lawyers. In this Appeal, James Marape filed taxation proceedings and used it to prevent the arrest of himself and O'Neill. The Supreme Court earlier issued blanket restraining orders against Police from arresting O'Neill, Marape and their lawyers/agents etc. This morning, the Supreme Court unanimously (all three members :- Hartshorne, Makail and Sawong) ruled that the Originating Summons does not raise any allegation that Police and members of Task-Force Sweep had abused the process or compromised their position in effecting the arrest. There is no claim that the Police are seeking to prevent the taxation proceeedings either

by Paul Flanagan   PNG Treasury released last Thursday an update on what may really have happened with the 2015 budget. Like the mid-year Treasury MYEFO update, this is a frightening document that points to a collapse in government revenues of 20 per cent in 2015 relative to the budget, and reveals 2015 expenditure reductions of 37% in health, 36% in infrastructure and 30% in education, areas the government said would be protected. The combined budget deficits over the last three years of 24% of GDP are the largest for a three year period in PNG’s history. The Final Budget Outcome ( FBO ) is one of four key budget documents each year and must be released by 31 March. The 2015 FBO is a comprehensive document that fills in many of the gaps of the 2016 budget, including finally providing detail on where cuts were made in the Supplementary Budget. Key aggregates are shown below. Table 1: Fiscal aggregates from the 2015 Final Budget Outcome (FBO) Note: These fi

by MICHAEL J. PASSINGAN On 21 March, at the PNC fund-raising – also known as the greatest gathering of thieves on earth – the Prime Minister boasted about PNG having an annual GDP growth rate of 9.2%. He said Papua New Guinea’s growth rate is the envy of many world economies – “9.2% is miles better than the global average, which is about 3% or less”.  LIES LIES LIES!  PNG’s annual GDP growth rate is 4.3%, according to the 2016 Budget papers, Volume 1, Table 1, page 107. Even worse, Treasury predicts annual GDP growth to fall to less than 3% for 2017, 2018 and 2019, according to the 2016 Budget papers, Volume 1, Chart 13 page 12.  This chart also demonstrates how O’Neill has wrecked the non-mining sectors – mainly agriculture, on which 90% of the people depend for their livelihood. His mad policies and his greed have reduced non-mining GDP growth from a high of 12% per annum in 2011 to about 3% per annum now.  MORE LIES!  He also told his dinner companions - PNC konman cr

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

by JANE M TAPIA   This is a call to all Papua New Guinea women looking to live in Australia. Yes, there is such an opportunity. It will be funded by Australian taxpayers and you will get the opportunity of a life time. Firstly though, you should consider coming to Australia on a tourist or student visa. After you enter Australia, it doesn’t matter what kind of story you can put together. Make it so convincing that your life will be in danger and you will be prosecuted in PNG. If you have medical reports, photographs of yourself and police statements, that will be much easier. Download reports and statistics of the rates of violence against women in PNG and add that to your application for protection. It adds weight to your claims. Even if you don’t have any experience, you can always try. It has worked and many PNG women are now living the life in Australia all because of false protection claims. The Australian government knows PNG has very high rates of domestic violence and wom