PNGBLOGS

$12 million Chinese-built Sigiri bridge in Western Kenya collapsed before it was completed. President Uhuru Kenyatta inspected the project two weeks before the collapse. by MANISH SHARMA Editor’s note: All Pacific nations need to read this story and heed the warning before it is too late. One of you could be next. SRI Lanka has been crippled under a severe debt problem. In the last decade, it has invested billions of dollars in building huge infrastructure and most of the projects haven’t yet produced any adequate returns. Sri Lankan Government is now struggling to make payments and hence facing a severe debt crunch. Sri Lanka’s total debt stands at $64bn. About a whopping 95 per cent of all government revenues go towards debt repayment. The debt to China is eight billion dollars. Many local citizens feel the country is being sold to the Chinese. The problem is that money borrowed has been seemingly squandered on infrastructure that shows no sign of turning a pro

by JACOB PARAKISAN Australian Government inaction on money-laundering by corrupt Papua New Guinea politicians, their business cronies and government officials has once again been exposed by the spotlight of publicity. Evidence given in a Singapore corruption hearing shows that former Prime Minister Michael Somare and his son Arthur used bribe money to pay off residential properties bought in Cairns a few years earlier. The deal, in which Somare was secretly paid $US784,000 (K2.3 million), involved the laundering by Somare and his accomplices of $US3.6 million (K10 million) intended for setting up community colleges in PNG. The court established that the $US784,000 was deposited in Somare’s Standard Chartered bank account in three payments, labelled “housing”. One of those convicted in the Singapore money-laundering case told the court that "if you don’t pay to the PM PNG you will not be able to get business from PNG.”  Singaporean Lim Ai Wah, who was sentenced to fi