District to retrieve govt vehicles

National

THE Namatanai District Development Authority (DDA) in New Ireland is in the process of retrieving government vehicles in the custody of “associates of the former member” and public servants, Namatanai MP Walter Schnaublet said in media statement.
According to the statement, the task of repossessing the government vehicles commenced on the Sept 15 is still continuing with nearly 50 vehicles now impounded near the Namatanai Police Station.
The action by Schnaubelt, who is the chairman of the DDA, was fully supported by the members of the DDA in its second meeting last month.
The drastic action follows numerous requests by Schnaubelt since he took office for the administration to furnish to him the asset register of the administration.
“They couldn’t find the asset register to give me as member for Namatanai. That’s the first official business the administration should have done but I was listening to 101 excuses, none credible,” he said.
“It was obvious that the administration did not recognise me as the new member for Namatanai and maybe that is the reason why they deliberately ‘failed’ to give me the asset register. Or, it maybe that they were hiding something which they didn’t want me to know about,” Schnaubelt said.
He said that because of the failure by the administration to furnish the asset register, the police were directed to proceed on to retrieve the government vehicles.
Many vehicles were kept in villages as private vehicles with private number plates fitted on them.
It was revealed that all the vehicles were still registered under the administration and many of them had been unregistered but still running on public roads.
Vehicles kept by public servants were retrieved too and the DDA will undertake a thorough check on how the vehicles were given to the associates of the former MP Byron Chan.
It was agreed in the DDA meeting that individuals holding on to vehicles will show all the necessary documents to justify their possession. Failure to do so will result in vehicles being withdrawn from and distributed to the administration or auctioned.