Press Statement

With the National Parliament reconvening on Tuesday 10th August following a 6-month suspension, Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) has taken the opportunity to highlight that the majority of public bodies have failed to submit annual financial statements, as required under the Public Finance (Management) (Amendment) Act (PFMAA) 2016.

Transparency International Papua New Guinea (TIPNG) has issued a statement calling on the Private Sector and Government to respect the Independence of the Bank of Papua New Guinea’s Financial Analysis and Supervision Unit (FASU) and allow due process to be followed. TIPNG has taken this position in light of the various comments made relating to the actions taken by the FASU in issuing a ‘show cause’ notice to the BSP Financial Group Ltd (BFL).

Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) held its Annual General Meeting today to present its annual report for the year 2020 to its members. As part of the business of the AGM, the financial members of TIPNG elected Mr Peter Aitsi as chair, Ms Michelle Hau’ofa as secretary and Mrs Akae Beach as treasurer to serve for the coming year. A further 11 individuals were also elected to serve on the board and they were; Jerome Sesega, Brian Alois, Belinda Kanau, Philip Samar, Paul Barker, Mary Udu, Richard Kassman, Christopher Elphick and Michael McWalter, Seini Fisi’ihoi and a new member to the Board, Mr. Bill Neill.

Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) remains concerned about the proposed building of a casino in Port Moresby and what appears to be a less then arms-length interest being shown by the regulator – the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB). Given the NGCB is the recipient of public taxes collected from gaming activity, it is only right the government and the NGCB disclose the terms of the MOU signed by The State and the developer.

The recent announcement by the National Gaming Control Board (NGCB) that it will be partnering with a private firm to build a casino in Port Moresby raises serious governance implications on the sector says Transparency International PNG (TIPNG). It has been reported by the media that the NGCB and the Paga Hill Development Corporation (PHDC) signed an MOU to build a casino which in its first phase of development will cost at least K150 million.

A panel discussion during the recent Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) 1st National Integrity Summit, funded by the European Union, has underscored a data void in the PNG forestry sector, which has facilitated the manipulation and plundering of PNG resource owners by foreign logging companies for decades.

Ahead of Papua New Guinea’s scheduled mutual evaluation by the Asia- Pacific Group on Money-Laundering’s (APGML) next year, serious concerns have now been raised by watchdog agencies regarding the need for urgent collaborative action to improve anti-money laundering enforcement to prevent PNG from slipping back into the APGML grey list.