PNG fraud squad gets back to work

PAPUA NEW GUINEA – The head of Papua New Guinea’s police fraud squad says he doesn’t expect to have investigation files for a major fraud case into the affairs of the country’s prime minister vetted by the police commission’s office.

Mathew Damaru and his fellow Fraud and Anti-Corruption Directorate detectives have been allowed back into their office by the police commissioner Gary Baki.

Baki locked the fraud squad out for three weeks after it made a series of high-profile arrests linked to a major fraud case implicating the prime minister Peter O’Neill.

The police commissioner accused Damaru and his team of various administrative and discipline breaches, but was last week directed by the national court to reopen the fraud office to allow the squad to get back to work.

Damaru said the fraud squad has resumed its work, although it now has been ordered to submit all active investigation cases to a so-called “vetting committee” within the police commission office.

However, he said he doesn’t think the alleged fraud case involving O’Neill needs to be vetted.

“For that one, we’ve already made arrests and warrants of arrest have been obtained, so we’ve already gone past that, so I don’t think that will be one of the cases that goes through that vetting process.”

The fraud squad secured an arrest warrant for the prime minister in 2014, but is stayed from arresting Peter O’Neill on that charge by a judicial review still before the courts.

Damaru said their operations have resumed, although they now had to submit all their investigation files to a so-called “vetting committee” within the top police hierarchy.

“We are back to office, back at work – but with the new process in place, we don’t know practically how it will work,” he said.

“We’ll just wait and see how it will go. And then over a period of time, I think we’ll probably reassess and see whether it’s working or it’s not working.”

Meanwhile, a University of Papua New Guinea student leader says protesting students are not being bribed to demonstrate against the prime minister.

The students have been staging meetings and staying away from classes in an effort to get O’Neill to step down to face corruption allegations.

Hercules Jim who is on the Student Representative Council said there have been claims students are being bribed to stage protests.

But he said they have raised their own funds to conduct meetings and a boycott so far.

“What the minister for higher education is saying is baseless, he doesn’t have any proof so we want to tell the world and the nation that we aren’t politically motivated as the prime minister said or receiving bribes as the minister said – but we are driven by the passion to see justice prevail in our nation. The rule of law must be upheld and that’s it.”

- RNZI