Kokoda authority under probe

BOARD members of Kokoda Track Authority (KTA) are set to face police and corruption investigations for allegedly siphoning off thousands of kina worth of Kokoda Track funding.
The KTA has temporarily closed its office after members discovered a phantom Port Moresby bank account has been receiving their Provincial Government money.
PNG’s national fraud and anti-corruption directorate, along with police, will today begin an investigation into the KTA board.
KTA’s executive officer Warren Bartlett said the investigation would determine how much had been funnelled from Government funds.
Bartlett said tensions already existed within the KTA as landowners felt board members were misrepresenting them and allocating themselves unnecessary claims and allowances.
“For a long time, we have been demanding to know where the money is, asking the provincial offices where the hundreds of thousands of promised money was ...,” he said.
“It’s been going on for some time ...
“The KTA has to restructure, the board has been dysfunctional and board members have been looking after themselves or their relatives,” he said.
Mr Bartlett said he believed the bogus bank account had been open for at least a year and operated by three board members appointed by the local government.
“The bank wouldn’t release the exact details of how much until a search warrant had been issued, but police start Monday (today), so, hopefully, after the investigation we can lock up these guys,” he said.
KTA is responsible for managing local tribal landowners, trekking companies and all issues associated with the 96km track where Australian soldiers repelled Japanese troops during World War II.
Mr Bartlett said that at times, due to a lack of funding, he used his own company’s money to pay for administrative costs.
“We never saw the money that was allocated to us by the Oro and Central Province local governments, or the money that came in was always much less than promised,” he said.
For the past two weeks there have been two separate protests by Koiari locals, who closed the Track at Naoro village and McDonald’s Corner outside Port Moresby.
Landowners are angry the PNG Government is delaying renewing a mining exploration licence for Australian company Frontier Resources Pty Ltd, whose mine would destroy more than 600m of the Kokoda Track.
The Australian government is against the proposal and wants the Track to become a World Heritage listed site.
The Koiari people, who would make millions of kina from the deal, have threatened to hold protests in the capital when Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd visits PNG in the first week next month.
Landowners have planned a demonstration and to gather petition signatures outside the Mining minister’s office on Wednesday.