Pacific / Papua New Guinea

PNG opposition says LNG money handled corruptly

17:31 pm on 12 August 2015

The leader of the Papua New Guinea Opposition, Don Polye, has accused the Peter O'Neill Government of corruption over the way it handles LNG project money.

Papua New Guinea Opposition Leader, Don Polye Photo: Supplied

The huge liquified natural gas project is now the biggest earner in PNG and has been touted for several years as the economic saviour of the country.

Mr Polye says a huge UBS Bank loan by the Government to buy a slice of Oil Search was not done through Parliament as it should have been.

And he says the O'Neill Government is not channelling the earnings from the project through the public accounts, but through an entity it has created, called the National Petroleum Company PNG or NPCP.

"And funds are channelled there, repaying the loan, as well as being managed in a very untransparent manner, and that is the cry out by the people of this nation, especially by academia, the professional institutions and other bodies at present in Papua New Guinea."