O’NEILL AND POWI SET UP LNG DEVELOPMENT LEVY SLUSH FUND
by MICHAEL J PASSINGAN Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Southern Highlands Governor William Powi have set up a secret slush fund using the PNG LNG Development Levies intended for the Southern Highlands Provincial Government and LLGs. The money going into the slush fund is supposed to be paid by the PNG LNG operators direct to the Provincial Treasury. Instead O’Neill and Powi are diverting the cash into a secret account to be set up under NEC decision No. 70/2016 on 22 March this year. The decision was signed by Mr O’Neill, who is recognized internationally as the most corrupt politician in the Pacific. Grave fears are held for the security of the funds, which rightfully belong to the Southern Highlands Provincial Government and project landowners. The Development Levy is 2% of the wellhead value of all production from PNG LNG, and by now amounts to hundreds of millions of kina. The NEC decision states that the Provincial Government should set up the account with a “thi