Bank of PNG not associated with online firm

THE Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) has dismissed claims that it had granted a financial trading licence to an online investment company.
This comes after a media release from online investment company “Golden Sun” allegedly using the bank’s logo, letterhead and a forged signature of BPNG governor Elizabeth Genia on it.
BPNG acting assistant governor George Awap told The National that the bank did not deal with such schemes and that release was unauthorised and, therefore, illegal.
“I reiterate that it is a scam,” he said.
“The Bank of PNG has not released a statement to allow any association with this company ‘Golden Sun’ and it is not a regulated financial institution.
“The use of the Bank of PNG letterhead and the acting Governor’s signature by the entity are illegal. As far as BPNG is concerned, we do not have any knowledge of Golden Sun.”
Awap said there were many scammers who illegally used other people or company names and addresses on a daily basis to lure people into their schemes.
He said BPNG had published a list of licensed institutions for people to bank with and not other unregulated companies or agencies claiming to represent BPNG.
Meanwhile, a member of the Golden Sun PNG Ltd, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, said the recent media release posted on social media did not come from the company.
But he said there were people who opposed the company’s operations and have been sending threatening messages to some of their members lately, even to the point of coming up with media statements.
“I would like to deny this report as we did not release any statement,” he said.