UBS inquiry chairman wants concluded report to be presented publicly

 Prime Minister Hon. James Marape said today (Monday January 31 2022) that he looks forward to the conclusion of the Commission of Inquiry into the controversial K3 billion Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan.

He said this at the end of his answering questions and giving evidence to the COI at APEC Haus in Port Moresby.

The COI – established by PM Marape in 2019 after assuming office – has over the last two years been probing into the UBS loan obtained by the Peter O’Neill Government in 2014 to buy shares in Oil Search Ltd.

Papua New Guinea Parliament

The Prime Minister, after assuming office, undertook to convene a COI to establish facts surrounding the whole transaction, including all persons and entities involved in the deal, and whether or not the deal followed proper and legal process and procedures.

“I certainly look forward to the conclusion of the inquiry,” he told the COI headed by former chief justice Sir Salamo Injia.

“If there are suggestions that we can draw from the inquiry, improve public governance in the way we do business in Papua New Guinea, especially to ensure public money is safeguarded, I certainly look forward to embrace those recommendations.”

Sir Salamo said the COI was set to complete and present its report on March 31, 2022.

“The thinking right now is a question of whether the report will be presented to you publicly, at a hearing of this nature, because the proceedings have been conducted in public,” he told PM Marape.

“We may be asking you to appear in person, to come and receive the report, at a public hearing, compared to past where the report was taken to your office and presented by a representative of the commission - which appears to be more of a private meeting than a public meeting.

“The thinking now is that we may present the report at a public hearing like this, and we may be asking you to come and receive it.”

PM Marape told Sir Salamo that he would accept whatever way the COI wanted to presented its report.

“I am at your disposal,” he said.

-Press Release