Pacific Anti-Corruption Updates (24 November 2018): PNG, Fiji, Tuvalu, Solomon Islands

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PAPUA NEW GUINEA:

PNG police chief says parliament unrest politically motivated.  Papua New Guinea's police commissioner has suggested the unrest at parliament by members of his force and other disciplinary forces this week was politically motivated.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/376624/png-police-chief-says-parliament-unrest-politically-motivated

Papua New Guinea unrest continues with gunfire in Port Moresby.  Unrest has continued in Port Moresby following the weekend’s Apec conference and the storming of parliament by “disgruntled” police and corrections officers on Tuesday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/22/papua-new-guinea-unrest-continues-with-gunfire-in-port-moresby

Public servants dismissed over alleged fraud.  Though Bougainville is on the verge of creating political history through the process of self-determination, it is not immune to the systematic corruption that is destroying PNG.

http://www.looppng.com/png-news/public-servants-dismissed-over-alleged-fraud-80871

Stop importing illegal timber, PNG activists tell China at APEC Summit. China’s imports of timber from Papua New Guinea are winnowing away the country’s forests, according to a group of NGOs, researchers and landowners. Without action by Chinese leaders, they wrote in a letter to President Xi Jinping, the illegalities and corruption that plague PNG’s forestry sector will only continue.

https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/png-leaders-call-to-china-stop-importing-illegal-timber/

Security forces storm PNG parliament over unpaid wages after APEC summit. A group of up to 100 Papua New Guinea security personnel forced their way into parliament on Tuesday to demand unpaid wages, lawmakers said, just days after world leaders attended a regional summit in the impoverished island nation.

https://www.fijitimes.com/security-forces-storm-png-parliament-over-unpaid-wages-after-apec-summit/

Former PM Sir Mekere blasts ‘lavish staging’ and ‘ridicule’ of APEC.  Sir Mekere Morauta, MP for Moresby North West in the nation’s capital, today declared in a statement: “APEC has revealed to the world the corruption, waste and mismanagement within the O’Neill government, and their devastating effects on the nation and citizens.”

https://asiapacificreport.nz/2018/11/20/former-pm-sir-mekere-blasts-lavish-staging-and-ridicule-of-apec/

 

FIJI :

Ex-Statistician Pleads Guilty. Kelera Nokelevu appeared before Chief Magistrate Usaia Ratuvili yesterday charged with one count each of obtaining a financial advantage and using forged documents.

http://fijisun.com.fj/2018/11/21/ex-statistician-pleads-guilty/

Katia to be sentenced in December. Viliame Katia, former acting deputy official receiver of the Ministry of Justice, was convicted of 11 counts of corrupt-related matters and was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by the Suva Magistrates Court in 2017, which FICAC had appealed against.

https://www.fijitimes.com/katia-to-be-sentenced-in-december/

 

TUVALU:

Former Tuvalu prime minister laid to rest. Mr Ielemia was prime minister from 2006 to 2010, but his political career ended in turmoil when he was convicted of corruption in 2016.

https://www.radionz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/376524/former-tuvalu-prime-minister-laid-to-rest

 

SOLOMON ISLANDS:

Anti-corruption Institutions powerless.  The workshop on ‘Reporting Corruption’ for journalists that is currently underway at the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Cooperation highlights that most anti-corruption institutions in the country have no power to directly deal with corruption.

http://theislandsun.com.sb/anti-corruption-institutions-powerless/

Sikua refused bail. Sikua, the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Police, National Security and Correctional Services, was convicted on three counts of official corruption after a trial.

http://www.solomonstarnews.com/index.php/news/national/item/21125-sikua-refused-bail

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