Oro Governor, Gary Juffa, tabled in Parliament today reports on the alleged Bangladeshi Syndicate operating in PNG.
The tabled reports allege the existence of collusion between the alleged syndicate and Labour Department officials to enter the country on illegal work permits.
Juffa first raised the issue with Labour Minister, Benjamin Poponawa, in Parliament last week, in which the Minister denied having any knowledge of the syndicate and said he would instruct the department to look into it.
In a paid advertorial this week, Labour Secretary, Mary Morola, denied the allegations of collusion between Labour officers and the alleged syndicate and that any evidence be brought forward to substantiate the claims by Juffa.
Before tabling the reports, Juffa sought leave to give a personal explanation on the matter stating that he was personally named in the paid advertorial by the Secretary.
He said the assertion in the advertorial that the Department has no idea about the syndicate and that every foreigner in the country is in the country legally is untrue.
“So I have reports here to counter that. There was a report that was given (in) October 2016 by a former employee of Labour Department highlighting all those issues including the existence of such a syndicate and the corruption that exists in that department. That report was given to my office and to the Labour office.
“So for them to say that nothing is, they are not aware of it, this is quite strange,” he said.
Juffa added “Secondly I have another report here with copies of work permits and visas which I obtained myself personally and physically in the presence of administration officers in Oro Province, and copies of all the work permits unlawfully obtained, all the visa’s are here I wish to table this.
“This is a matter of great interest to our nation, it’s about our jobs, our businesses we are talking about here.”
Juffa told the Government and Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill to take note that with APEC around the corner there needed to be scrutiny and security over the issuing of state documents such as work permits and visa’s.
While he commended the Labour Department to carry out a review he called for holistic approach which includes the Police, Immigration and the Department of Prime Minister.
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