It’s confusing – but let’s try to keep up with the political play in Papua New Guinea after a series of court rulings regarding the arrest warrant for the nation’s prime minister to answer questions relating to corruption allegations.

In the latest move, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has instructed his lawyers to withdraw all court proceedings, including appeals against his arrest warrant, to “let government agencies do their job” in verifying legal bills paid to Paraka Lawyers.

“I have always made myself available and I will answer questions that proper investigators put to me and I stand ready to do that,” O’Neill said in an announcement on Sunday.

“That is why after considering all the events of the past two weeks, I have instructed my lawyers to withdraw all the legal proceedings including the appeals that they have initiated on my behalf because I want to respect the decisions of the courts that the power continues to lie with the commissioner of police.

“I will respect that the commissioner of police be allowed to do his job and we will subject ourselves to an interview or provide statements as and when it is required by him and through an independent process of which investigators have an objective mind to these investigations.”

O’Neill said the State and other parties involved can pursue their own cases in court.

“I know they will consider their own cases on their own merits – but mine will be withdrawn so I can subject myself to a request if the police commissioner wants me to appear before him or a team of investigators.”

The ABC’s Port Moresby correspondent, Liam Cochrane, in an earlier report on Friday said that there’s very little chance of that happening.

“The current police commissioner, Geoffrey Vaki, has already indicated he’s not going to do that – he gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court on Thursday that he would not pursue the arrest of the prime minister.”

On Sunday O’Neill said: “I have not made this decision lightly because I think that it is important that we protect the office of the prime minister.

“We don’t want to subject future prime ministers to this kind of ridicule where a letter which is under dispute or under scrutiny is used to undermine the office of the prime minister and the government of the day.

“I see that there is a gross interference in the investigation process and it is becoming more and more evident that apart from political interference there is continued interference from foreign interests given that the government has been making some very tough decisions in the recent months including decisions like the ownership of resources by our own people.

“At no stage have I tried to avoid being held accountable for my actions as prime minister since assuming office in August 2011.

“I have made it very clear in public that this particular letter which has been the basis of which the accusations have been made against me did not originate from my office and I stand by that.

“Every correspondence since 2011, incoming or going out, has been clearly recorded through a register in my office, after all these years, the only one that is missing from that registry is this particular letter, so it is clear that this letter did not originate from my office and we stand by that.

“There has been extensive investigation by task force sweep and they too confirmed that letter did not originate from my office.”

It is more than two weeks since Prime Minister O’Neill was issued with an arrest warrant after the country’s anti-corruption agency Taskforce Sweep accused him of authorising fraudulent government payments worth millions of kina to local law firm, Paraka Lawyers.

O’Neill has since disbanded the task force.

Meanwhile the PNG police’s fraud squad has also been in court in Port Moresby, trying to get legal backing so they are not required to hand over the file relating to the corruption investigation into Prime Minister O’Neill.

“They don’t want to hand it over to the new police commissioner, effectively,” the ABC’s Cochrane reported on Friday.

“So it’s an urgent application to stop that and the judge adjourned that until Tuesday (tomorrow) to hear whether they will or will not be forced to hand over the file.”

O’Neill has admitted that the political events of the past two weeks have left a “dent” in investor confidence in Papua New Guinea.

“It has been unheard of in any other democracies like ours, where a sitting prime minister is questioned on a flimsy evidence of a photocopied letter which could come from anywhere.”

He said investors were keeping a close eye on the situation and it gives them no comfort when they see policemen run after elected leaders including the prime minister with a warrant of arrest.

He however, thanked those who have continued to show confidence that PNG is an investment destination.

“I am confident that new investors will continue to come and I am hoping and praying that the events of the past two weeks have not damaged our reputation.