Patrick Pruaitch

He claimed that there has been no transparency on the restoration work carried out by the Controller of National Disaster state-of-emergency.

Pruaitch, in a statement, accused the Government for turning a blind eye to the suffering of tens of thousands of Papua New Guineans in the badly hit provinces of Southern Highlands, Hela, Western and Gulf.

He said conflicting information has been provided on funding for earthquake impacted provinces by the Department of Treasury and Dr Bill Hamblin, Controller of National Disaster state-of-emergency.

The Opposition, in a media conference this afternoon, said O'Neill's leadership has been tarnished when his own people burnt a Link PNG aircraft yesterday to show their frustrations.

The Opposition has expressed disappointment on the burning down of the aircraft along with the courthouse and the Governor’s residence.

According to a statement issued by Mr Pruaitch, he said there is no plausible reason why ExxonMobil, as the largest equity holder in the US$20 billion venture, has never been the single largest company tax payer since LNG exports commenced in 2014.

The Opposition leader stressed that as an unincorporated joint venture, all five joint venture partners, including Kumul Petroleum, adopt identical accounting standards so the share of profits and taxable income of each partner is broadly comparable and should reflect their individual equity holdings.

Mr Pruaitch said the public is entitled to facts and not rhetoric explaining why Kumul’s tax figure for 2014 alone was much higher than the total tax paid by Kumul Petroleum for the three years to 2016.

The Opposition leader said the Internal Revenue Commission records released in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) annual reports show that the total tax paid to IRC by Kumul Petroleum in 2014, 2015 and 2016 was only K127.5 million, or K115 million less than what was due in 2014.

Opposition Leader, Patrick Pruaitch, in a statement claimed that Kumul Petroleum owes Internal Revenue Commission K451 million for corporate taxes they should have paid in 2014 and 2015.

Kumul Petroleum Limited MD, Wapu Sonk, when responding to claims by the Opposition told this newsroom that these are mere allegations politically motivated.

He said Kumul Petroleum always paid its taxes and couldn’t be in debt to such a big magnitude as claimed.

That was his response when responding to Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel on cash flow issues in the country.

The Opposition leader said his advice from his very first budget in 2014 was to sharply curtail the level of borrowing.

He added that when Government is in receipt of record revenue, it is not the time to be making excessive loans and running large fiscal deficits.

He said the Government borrowed far too much in a brief period and most of it has been misspent.

Pruaitch in a statement said the aftermath of the disaster has seen ongoing clan fighting, chaos, law and order issues in Hela and Southern Highlands provinces.

Pruaitch raised this concern as the Government’s report was due nine weeks ago.

He said the Government is yet to provide a clear account of the extent of damages and devastation and future plans for the people affected.

Pruaitch said if the Ombudsman had not investigated a 10-year Build-Operate-Lease-Transfer (BOLT) agreement, the National Government would have agreed to pay K981.79 million annually for Government accommodation it planned to build.

Pruaitch claimed that the annual lease payment would have been more than four times the total current office rental paid by Government if the negotiation had gone through.

Opposition leader Patrick Pruaitch make this special appeal to Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in Parliament during the special sitting yesterday.

The Opposition leader Mr Pruaitch said the Government cannot continue plodding along at snail pace when days can mean the difference between life and death to those affected by the disaster.

He is calling on the Government to hear the cries of the people and act now to improve aid delivery and transparent funds management for this very exercise.

They warn of more serious socio-economic problems if the current regime is allowed to continue in office.

Leader of the Opposition, Patrick Pruaitch, warned that if the current political leadership in not changed, PNG will sink deeper into more serious problems than ever experienced before.

Pruaitch warned that the current unprecedented level of corruption, financial and economic mismanagement is far worse than the problems created by the former PNC Government under the late Bill Skate’s leadership, from 1997 to 1999.