Papua New Guinea’s Acting Police Commissioner has banned a protest march planned for today’s sitting of parliament, saying it could turn violent.

Acting Police Commissioner Geoffrey Vaki says the potential for violence at a political protest poses too great a risk.

“Papua New Guineans don’t know how to behave at a protest,” he said at a news conference in Port Moresby.

Earlier in the day, Port Moresby’s Metropolitan Superintendent Perou N’Dranou gave the go-ahead for a protest march to coincide with the resumption of parliament, but Vaki says N’Dranou has since had “second thoughts”.

Vaki says he did not consult with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill before making the decision.

Organisers have vowed to go ahead with the march to protest against the way O’Neill has handled allegations of corruption, even though it’s been declared illegal.

Assistant Police Commissioner Crimes Thomas Eluh was suspended on Sunday, after statements to the media about the state of the police system and calling for O’Neill to answer questions from police fraud investigators.

But Vaki told reporters he suspended Eluh for ‘insubordination’, after Eluh failed to attend a meeting with himself and former police commissioner Simon Kauba.

Vaki says he was met with hostility when he did eventually speak to Eluh. Vaki claims Eluh banged on a table, pointed his finger two inches from his face and said that he should quit.

In response, he suspended Eluh for 21 days.

Eluh has already appeared in court to challenge his suspension but proceedings were postponed.

Meanwhile, Papua New Guinea corruption investigator Sam Koim says Australia should take a greater interest in the case against his country’s prime minister.

O’Neill was issued with an arrest warrant last week after an investigation by the now defunct anti-corruption body, Taskforce Sweep, into alleged multi-million dollar payments to a law firm.

Neill has denied the charges, claiming they were politically motivated, and responded by disbanding the anti-corruption body as well as sacking the attorney general and deputy police commissioner.

Previously Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the political situation in PNG was an internal matter.

But Koim says Australia should be keeping a close eye on any investigation as a large amount of its taxpayers’ money has been used to develop Papua New Guinea.

“Australia spends on average about $500 million to Papua New Guinea annually, and part of that money is spent to develop the rule of law in our country,” he said.

“Right now what’s happening is not a political situation, it is the enforcement of the rule of law.

“The institutions of government are trying to uphold the rule of law and one person is using his position and power to undermine the rule of law.”

Koim has flown to Australia to seek the Australian government’s help in pursuing his corruption investigation, which has been curtailed after O’Neill disbanded Taskforce Sweep.

He says the evidence against O’Neill is strong and worth pursuing.

Koim said the investigation suggests between $20 million and $25 million was wrongfully paid by PNG’s Department of Finance as a result of signed directive by O’Neill , with some of the funds making its way to Australian bank accounts.

O‘Neill says a letter authorising the payments is a forgery which did not originate from his office.