Agiru denies being party to K19m deal

SOUTHERN Highlands Governor Anderson Agiru yesterday called on landowner leader Stanis Talu “not to lead the people astray”.
“I never made any promise of K19 million to Talu or to anybody at any forum,” Agiru said.
“I am not aware of a K19 million commitment made in my presence.
“I cannot make any commitments as I am not a minister.
“In any case, I have always maintained that ministerial commitments are wrong and illegal. Ministers do not have powers to commit millions of kina without budgetary allocations by parliament or National Executive Council approval.”
Agiru was responding to comments by Talu that K19 million had been promised in 2009 which he witnessed but only K1 million had been paid.
Agiru said he had information that some K66 million might have been paid out in ministerial commitment funds last week to landowners and was surprised that Talu was returning home empty-handed along with other leaders.
“These commitments were inducements by ministers to different landowners during the Kokopo UBSA (umbrella benefits sharing agreement) negotiations to undermine strong positions that I and my delegation were taking,” Agiru said.
“The ministers did not have the authority and the payments are illegal.
“If money must be paid, Talu’s group who represent PDL 1 at Hides and PDL 7 at Hides 4 deserve the most money because almost 80% of the gas for the LNG project come from there.
“Still, I have made no commitment and was not a witness to any such commitment.”