Corruption in Papua New Guinea's government departments has become institutionalised, with illegality and secrecy sanctioned to the extent that the country is now a 'Mobocracy'.
That's what the government of PNG has been told by its corruption watchdog, Task Force Sweep, which yesterday handed its final report on a seven-month investigation into malpractice across government agencies.
In a statement the chairman, Sam Koim, says their investigations have revealed a very frightening trend of corruption in PNG.
He says the level of corruption has migrated from sporadic to systematic and now to institutionalisation, where government institutions are dominated by corrupt people who orchestrate corruption using lawful authorities.
Mr Koim called the corrupt officials a mob which had turned PNG from a constitutional democracy into a mobocracy.
Mr Koim says 20 politicians will be referred to the Ombudsman Commission for further investigation, while 24 public servants had been suspended for facilitating or benefiting from corruption.
And he says more than 10 lawyers will be referred to the PNG Law Society for investigation.