There will be no Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the Manumanu land deal because of a case before the Supreme Court.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in a media conference announced that NEC today agreed to an Administrative Inquiry which will start tomorrow (Wednesday).
O’Neill said the decision for the change was because of a court proceeding testing the legality and payments of past COI.
“Today NEC have decided that we will have an Inquiry that is Administrative in nature, but the principles of accountability and transparency and all the other investigative requirements will still be conducted by a leading legal professionals,” Prime Minister O’Neill said this afternoon.
“NEC today appointed John Griffin, a Queens Council, of the Queensland Bar to inquire and investigates the five land transactions through this inquiry.”
O’Neill said Griffin is an experienced QC and is well versed with laws of the country.
“This appointment will not prevent the ongoing investigation conducted by OC and Police fraud investigation,” the PM said.
He said the inquiry will run for four weeks, and the report will be tabled in the last sitting of this term of Parliament.
O’Neill said the investigation will look at the roles of the relevant ministers involved in the purchase of land to relocate the PNGDF establishment out of Port Moresby.
He added that the investigation will also look at the roles of the different departments and departmental heads involved in the transactions and purchase of the lands.
The inquiry will cost taxpayers K2 million.
(Picture by Kennedy Bani)