Clear your name in court, says Basil

By Sally Tiwari
LEADERS facing corruption-related charges after investigations by the Task Force Sweep must clear their names through the process of law and order, Sam Basil says.
Basil, the Minister for National Planning and Monitoring, said there were no separate laws for ordinary citizens and those in leadership positions.
Basil was responding to comments by the Member for Pomio, Paul Tiensten, yesterday in which he claimed that the investigation team was only targeting certain people who were not friends or associates of the government.
Basil said the Task Force Sweep had earned the right to be respected because since its establishment by the National Executive Council, it had made seven arrests using only K2 million out of K6 million budgeted for it.
“Task Force Sweep is now on track to recover up to K100 million as opposed to the K26 million spent by the Commission of Inquiry into the Department of Finance without any person being prosecuted,” Basil said.
Tiensten had said he travelled to Australia because he was afraid of being unlawfully detained at the Kokopo cell over the independence weekend. He said he would return home to fight the charges, claiming all avenues for a fair hearing had been exhausted.
Basil said Tiensten appeared to want specific treatment which was undermining the rule of law.
He said Tiensten’s attempt to get the National Court to forestall the investigations was dismissed because criminal processes did not start with a judicial review.
“Where is the better forum that he is asking about than being interviewed by the police? Isn’t that where he could have explained how the funds were misused under his watchful eyes as the National Planning Minister?” Basil asked.
On other matters needing investigation as raised by Tiensten such as the questionable sale of the Investment Corporation Assets and the implementation of recommendation from the finance inquiries into NPF (now Nasfund), Basil said the Pomio MP knew the issues were worth investigating while he was a minister but did nothing about them.
Basil said Tiensten was innocent until proven guilty and should come back and sort it out in court.