Former Prime Minister, and Member for Ialibu Pangia, Peter O’Neill, highlighted the series of questions he asked Prime Minister today on the floor of parliament relating to the Connect PNG Project.
This was said during a brief conference today held by the Opposition.
O’Neill said he tabled the Integrated Financial Management System payments totalling to almost K1.96 billion of contracts and payments made to various companies and institutions and asked PM Marape to disclose his relationship with the company owners.
O’Neill expressed disappointment that PM James Marape in his usual manner had tried to deflect and avoid the question on the floor of parliament, trying to make it seem as if it is irrelevant to the nation’s well being.
“I am sure the company records I mentioned today will reveal that these people are known to the Prime Minister and to the Minister for Works and they are very close to them,” O’Neill said.
“We are talking about hundreds of millions of Kina, amounts unheard of in PNG.”
O’Neill added that Marape has confirmed that his government did issue up to K7 billion under the Connect PNG Program, but he failed to answer O’Neil’s questions regarding the Connect PNG Project contractors.
He further added that the Opposition is not afraid to indicate the names and if the contractors feel upset about it then they can go to court for this.
“But the records will speak for itself on what we tabled today, and we will publish all this reports in the public forum for public consumption.”
O’Neill further stated that this Connect PNG Project is a scam, and it is not going to go away.
“This is a scam; therefore, we will continue to highlight the irregularities of the approval of contracts and the approval of payments that the government is making.”
“Skilfully the government is making payments to contracts under K10million to avoid scrutineer.”
O’Neill expressed concern that if other members of the parliament think this is a joke, then, these members are in the wrong place and are not protecting the interest of the people of this country.
“Prime Minister must be honest, truthful and be factual because the K1.93 billion is almost 10% of the country’s actual budget.”