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Inquiry adamant to go to Honiara
By JULIA DAIA BORE
THE chairman of the PNG Defence Force Board
of Inquiry Justice Gibbs Salika yesterday insisted they should travel to
the Solomon Islands to interview witnesses despite refusal by Honiara
for them to do so.
As Justice Salika and his team held talks with PNG Foreign Affairs
officials to persuade Honiara to allow them in, the Australian
government weighed in, renewing its call for those behind the illegal
flight that spirited fugitive Julian Moti to the Solomon Islands on Oct
10 last year, to be brought to justice.
But Honiara became more blunt yesterday, conveying a message to the
board that it did not want the inquiry to be convened in Honiara. It had
previously asked the board to ‘delay’ the trip.
Justice Salika insisted that conducting “one on one” interviews in the
Solomon Islands with witnesses was crucial to establishing who was
behind the clandestine flight, which violated PNG as well as aviation
and international laws and angered Australia.
Justice Salika believes his team can conduct interviews within the PNG
High Commission sanctuary in Honiara.
The inquiry board met with PNG’s Foreign Affairs and Trade personnel
yesterday morning.
It is understood they asked for a diplomatic note to be sent to Honiara
seeking to renegotiate for the inquiry to be allowed into Solomon
Islands, preferably this Friday.
Justice Salika on Monday pointed out that under Regulation 10 of the
PNGDF Act; a board of inquiry may conduct an inquiry and exercise its
powers and functions “outside the country”.
The board has only until Feb 13 to finalise a report for the Minister
for Defence, and Justice Salika said time was not on their side.
“We are not going there to convict their people. That is not our
intention. We want to establish who in the Solomon Islands sanctioned
Moti’s flight using the PNGDF aircraft. We found out here our Government
was not aware of Moti being flown out of PNG to Munda in Solomon
Islands.
“We want to find out if the Solomon Islands government was aware of the
flight or whether it (the SI government) paid for the flight.”
But Solomon Islands High Commissioner to PNG Bernard Bata’anisia said in
a statement yesterday his government’s position had not changed.
“This is an internal matter for Papua New Guinea and as such, it would
be inappropriate for the inquiry board to visit Solomon Islands.”
Mr Bata’anisia said this was a sovereign decision made by the Solomon
Islands government and should be understood in that context.
In a breakfast meeting with the business community yesterday, Australian
High Commissioner Chris Moraitis said his government was adamant that a
robust investigation be conducted and appropriate action be taken
against those persons found to be responsible for secretly flying Moti
out of Port Moresby on Oct 10.
Mr Moraitis said the manner of Mr Moti’s departure from PNG was a matter
of ‘very serious concern’ to Australia.
 
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