By JULIA DAIA BORE and AAP
CONTROVERSIAL Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti is banned from travelling into PNG.
The Government has advised airlines and relevant authorities at all ports of call to refuse Moti entry into the country.
The instruction was issued by the Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Sam Abal and Secretary Gabriel Pepson.
Their actions arose as a result of a renewed extradition notice for Moti dated Dec 17, 2007 issued by the Australian government through its high commission office in Port Moresby.
The Australian government requested that PNG action Australia’s request for extradition should Moti return to PNG.
Mr Abal’s instruction to PNG’s relevant authorities are that Moti must not be “up lifted” into PNG by any incoming aircraft. Air Niugini, which flies into Honiara weekly, has been served this notice.
Speaking to The National last Friday, Mr Pepson said this was the precautionary move being taken by the PNG Government.
It is understood that the Solomon Islands does not have an extradition treaty with Australia.
However, newly-elected Solomon Islands prime minister Dr Derek Sikua said last Thursday that Moti would be sent back to Australia once an immigration minister is appointed and signs the necessary documents.
Meanwhile, AAP’s Lloyd Jones reported from Honiara that Moti had lost a legal bid to stop his impending expulsion from the Solomon Islands to face child sex charges in Australia.
Solomons chief justice Albert Palmer last weekend rejected Moti’s application to prevent his deportation by the new Solomons government, which has promised to expel him.
Moti, whose days as Solomons attorney-general appear numbered, made the application on the grounds that he was granted asylum in the Solomons and should be protected under the country’s constitution.
But Justice Palmer ruled his application out of order on the grounds that Moti’s asylum status was dependent on him remaining attorney-general, and it was clear the new government intended to remove him from that post.
Dr Sikua, who was elected on Thursday, is believed to have formally requested the Judicial and Legal Services Commission to revoke Moti’s appointment as attorney-general.
Being sacked from the post would mean Moti, an Australian citizen, would lose his Solomons work permit and right to residency, and could be deported forthwith if he did not go voluntarily.
Moti is wanted in Australia to face charges he raped a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.
He denies the charges, saying they were dismissed in a Vanuatu court and revived by Australian authorities to prevent him becoming attorney-general.
Moti was appointed in July by his friend, the previous prime minister Manasseh Sogavare, who was ousted in a vote of no-confidence in parliament earlier this month.
Sogavare’s government rejected a previous request by Australian authorities to extradite Moti.
Moti escaped extradition from Papua New Guinea to Australia in October last year when he skipped bail after being arrested by PNG police.
He hid out in the Solomon Islands’ High Commission in the PNG capital Port Moresby, before being whisked away on a PNG military flight to the Solomons and the protection of Sogavare.
The Moti issue plunged Canberra’s relations with the Solomons and PNG to new lows.
Moti’s escape options appear limited now, as he has lost the protection of Sogavare and has had his Australian passport cancelled.
Solomon Islands police are understood to be watching Mr Moti’s movements amid rumours over the past week that he intends to flee and seek sanctuary in Fiji, where he was born.
Australian officials have also been analysing various contingencies for Moti, including a possible escape aboard a fishing boat.