PNG Prime Minister demands apology from Today Tonight

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has called on the Seven Network to apologise following a Today Tonight report on Monday which claimed an estimated $1.7 billion was being stolen PNG’s budget and hidden in Aussie banks and the Queensland property market.

Sam Koim, head of PNG’s Anti-Corruption Task Force, told reporter James Thomas dirty money was leaving PNG to be laundered in Australia.

“Most of Australia’s aid program is effectively wasted,” he said.

“Almost half of the budget (is being stolen). That is how big the problem is.

“They see Australia as the Cayman Islands. They see that it is the safest place where they can bring their stolen money from PNG.”

But News Corp reports Prime Minister O’Neill said in a statement, “These are baseless allegations we can write off as the creation of an attention-seeking reporter’s wildest imaginations.

“Channel 7 owes PNG and its citizens a big apology and the journalist responsible for concocting such a negative international image of PNG should be dismissed from his employment.

“No one has stolen Australian taxpayers’ precious 1.7 billion because that amount of Australian money has never featured in any of our national budgets to date.

“I can say without fear or favour that the Channel 7 TV report alleging $A1.7 billion of Australian aid money being stolen from PNG’s budget annually is the Australian media’s most ill-researched, mischievous and misinformed piece of journalism coverage on PNG affairs.”

Today Tonight’s website has responses from:

AFP Assistant Commissioner Serious and Organised Crime, Ramzi Jabbour:
I can confirm the AFP does not have evidence of corruption involving PNG public officials.

NAB (National Bank of Australia):
In late 2012, NAB launched a thorough investigation regarding some funds transfers from Papua New Guinea, based on information provided by the Australian Federal Police and other law enforcement agencies in both Australia and PNG.
Following NAB’s investigation, some customers’ accounts were closed and some payments originating from PNG were declined.

ANZ:
We also continually monitor client activity, report suspicious matters to regulators such as AUSTRAC, and our professionalism has recently been recognised by the Australian Federal Police as “being a major disruption tactic to combat corruption in Papua New Guinea”.

Attorney General’s department, spokesperson Mark Dreyfus:
The Australian Government rejects these assertions. Australia has a robust framework to deter and detect money laundering, and to ensure that Australia is not a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption. Banks and other regulated businesses are required to have appropriate controls to counter the money-laundering risk posed by corrupt foreign officials and politicians.

AUSTRAC:
AUSTRAC is not an investigatory or law enforcement body. Where AUSTRAC receives reports relating to possible instances of illegal activity, AUSTRAC refers that information to its relevant partner agencies, such as law enforcement agencies.

Comment has been sought from Seven.

Statement by Today Tonight:

Contrary to comments reportedly made by PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, the Today Tonight investigation into corruption in PNG did not allege that $A1.7 billion of Australian aid money was stolen from PNG’s budget.

Rather, the story stated that about half of PNG’s total budget – $1.7b – is lost to corruption every year, and that some of this stolen money is laundered in Australia by corrupt officials.

The allegations were based on interviews with the head of PNG’s Anti-Corruption Task Force, Mr Sam Koim – who was appointed by Prime Minister O’Neill himself – and Professor Jason Sharman from Griffith University, one of the world’s foremost experts on corruption and money laundering.

As reported by Today Tonight, Australia’s annual AusAid contribution to PNG is about $500m. Prof Sharman did not claim that this money was stolen directly, but that “most of Australia’s aid program is effectively wasted”.

“If you give ten million dollars to a hospital and that money comes in, in aid through the front door, and at the same time ten million dollars is stolen out of the back door, through a corrupt official, then the net benefit of Australian Aid is zero,” he said on Today Tonight.

Following the report, the Australian Attorney General and Minister for Home Affairs issued a joint statement, appointing a senior official to meet with the head of the AFP to investigate the allegations raised in the program.