Lupari: Opposition claim on draft bill irresponsible and baseless

 OFFICE of the prime minister has rejected claims by the opposition that it was involved in “some sinister way” in the drafting of the proposed Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) Bill.

Chief of staff Isaac Lupari labelled the claim as “irresponsible and having no basis whatsoever”.

Deputy opposition leader Sam Basil said in a newspaper report yesterday that due to corrupt practices among politicians, the draft bill must not be handled by the office of the prime minister because it could be easily passed on the floor by a majority of government MPs.

He suggested that the bill be drafted by the attorney-general’s office or other related state agencies “to ensure transparency, independence and its unequivocal support submission to parliament for its deliberations instead of talking about a bill which was drafted more than 10 years ago”.

Lupari said: “As chief of staff in the office of the prime minister, I can assure all Papua New Guineans that if Mr Basil had bothered to check with me prior to making his statement to the press, I could have corrected his misconceived views.

“The ICAC legislation is being dealt with in exactly the same way that every other piece of legislation that goes to parliament is dealt with. 

“To suggest that ‘a possible offender’ is drafting the legislation is nonsense, as is his suggestion of a conflict of interest with the office of the prime minister.

“It says little for the journalistic standards of the Post-Courier that they were prepared to publish Basil’s comments – which amount to smear of reputations – without checking with me or someone in my office as to what the true facts were. As a result, they have published an article which is based on falsehood.”