Bakani admits being part of team advising Govt on loan

BANK of Papua New Guinea Governor Loi Bakani has admitted that he was a key member of a team that proposed to then-prime minister Peter O’Neill the possible placement of Oil Search to the State and its potential investment in Elk Antelope.
Bakani gave evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan deal at Apec House in Port Moresby yesterday.
He admitted after being shown a chain of emails by counsel assisting the inquiry, Elevente Jurth, that he and others, including Treasury secretary Dairi Vele, were copied.
When the commission asked Bakani if he was at the Cabinet meeting of March 6, 2014, where the UBS transaction was approved, Bakani replied: “Yes”.
The commission put to him that according to evidence by former shadow minister for state enterprises Sir Puka Temu, he (Bakani) and Vele did a presentation to the Cabinet, which made Sir Puka support the submission.
Bakani responded saying: “I was sitting at the meeting and recall Vele doing the presentation, but I didn’t do any presentation”.
On Tuesday, Sir Puka told the commission that he recalled that Cabinet approved a cabinet paper for the UBS loan after Bakani and Vele did a presentation to Cabinet, convincing members that the loan was good to go.