Prime Minister James Marape today received 15 volumes of the Commission of Inquiry report into the controversial Union Bank of Switzerland loan to buy shares with Oil Search.
This transaction happened when Ialibu Pangia MP Peter O'Neill was Prime Minister and Marape was the Finance Minister in 2014.
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| Prime Minister James Marape when giving his acknowledgement to the COI team |
Upon receiving the report tabled in 15 volumes Marape said his government had to ensure there was an inquiry taken place based on an Ombudsman Commission report.
"We knew something went wrong based on the Ombudsman Commission report," Marape said.
And in receiving the completed report which will be availed to all parliamentarians, he described the occasion as very important.
He said he was not privy to the report but said based on the findings and recommendations from the report if anyone will have to restitute money back to the people of Papua New Guinea, it should happen and if anyone involved will have to be criminally prosecuted, it must happen as well.
Marape said the report will not collect dust.
Chief Commissioner Sir Salamo Injia said there will be sufficient copies available for all Members of Parliament by the last sitting of the 10th Parliament at the end of the month.
Marape was grateful for that saying all MPs will be privy to the report.
The report culminates a two and a half years of inquiry and subsequent compiling which involved a handful of competent local and expatriates in law, ICT, transcriptions and writing reports.
It contains evidence, analysis, findings and a summary.
Marape said all transactions of public funds must not be hidden from the public and no matter how much it costs and how long gone a controversial transaction was made, there must be findings made and clarity put to it.
In 2014, the PNG Government took out a $AUD 1.2 billion loan through the Sydney office of UBS to buy shares in the ASX-listed company Oil Search.
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