PM on He Kai deportation

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has promised to order for the deportation of the transnational criminal Kevin He Kai

He Kai has been continuously allowed into the country, despite being convicted by PNG courts for a number of crimes including theft, grievous bodily harm and possession of illegal firearms.

Ijivitari MP, Richard Masere, raised the issues in parliament on Friday, asking the Prime Minister to deal with the matter.

After commending the Prime Minister for directing the cancellation of a passport and APEC card issued to alleged fugitive Djoko Tjandra, the Ijivitari MP asked the PM how he intended to deal with the re-entry of transnational criminal Kevin He Kai.

Masere said He Kai had been arrested and convicted by the PNG courts; mentioning the case file summary also, but failed to understand why Tjandra was allowed into the country still.

“This is a very serious and disturbing to see the immigration system allowing a transnational criminal to enter the country multiple times until a citizen raised the alarm. Sadly this citizen was later arrested by police.”

He called on the Prime Minister to sanction any investigation into the conduct of officers of the immigration involved in allowing re-issuance of visa of re-entry to He Kai.

Meantime, the issue had been raised by the Governor for Oro, Gari Juffa once before, where Chief Immigration Officer Solomon Kantha responded in a statement clarifying the situation, and stated that advice they received from the State Solicitor, was that once a person is deported, that removal order has therefore been exhausted and the person is at liberty to apply for a new entry permit where a decision can be made administratively.

Author: 
Salome Vincent