Govt awaiting Australia’s reply to refute fraud allegations

THE Government is awaiting a response to a letter sent to the Australia government to refute the fraud-related allegations levelled at acting Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari.
Lupari said he wanted his name cleared of allegations published in the Sydney Morning Herald that he had solicited unlawful payments from the director of the Australian firm Paladin Ltd which was contracted by the Australian government to provide security services to asylum seekers on Manus Island.
“If they have evidence, they can give it to the police to investigate.
“I am willing to comply,” he told The National.
Lupari said he was waiting for a response to the letter the Government had written to the Australian government.
Paladin Ltd was awarded a security contract valued at AU$423 million (K979.8mil) at the rate of AU$20 million (K46.3mil) per month at the Manus detention facility.
In 2019, then Immigration and Citizenship Authority chief migration officer Solomon Kantha said Paladin’s contract was cancelled following the PNG Government’s directive to close the Manus detention facility.
Lupari said it was not the first such allegation claiming that Papua New Guineans had been asking them for money.
The allegations were raised by Australian senator Kristina Keneally in a Senate estimates hearing and purport to relate to an email from Paladin director Ian Stewart to the department of home affairs official David Knockles.
“I emphatically and categorically deny this allegation,” Lupari said.
“It is false and it is defamatory.
“I have never, at any time had any discussion with any employee of Paladin. I have never met and I have never spoken to Stewart.”