Mua welcomes probe on MVIL investment

FORMER chief executive officer of the Motor Vehicle Insurance Ltd, Dr John Mua, yesterday welcomed any investigations into his tenure in office.
He thanked parliament for the dubious honour it had bestowed him by moving a motion to have him referred to police.
This is the first time a private individual had been referred by parliament through a motion.
Mua called on his successor Bonny Igime and Minister for Public Enterprises Sir Mekere Morauta to provide evidence that he had personally defrauded the MVIL.
Igime had said K100 million of MVIL money was illegally invested in Australia through a company, Woodlawn Capital Ltd, when Mua was CEO. Only about K9 million of the money had been recovered.
Sir Mekere told parliament on Tuesday that recovery actions currently under way could recoup the money but exchange rate fluctuations had lost the original value by about 20%, or K20 million.
Mua said the investment had been done with the full know­ledge and concurrence of the MVIL board and management. It was not done in secret by him alone.
He said the investment was and remained MVIL property and was accessible.
“The investment is not in a drawing account or a cheque account where I go around swiping bank cards or write cheques to draw from the account,” he said.
“The investment is placed with an investment company. You cannot simply walk in and withdraw the money or deal with it as you please.
“If I am alleged to have had direct and exclusive access to the investment, from which I may be presumed to have corruptly withdrawn or stolen funds, I challenge Igime and Sir Mekere to produce the hard evidence (cheque copies, debit notes, deposit records, etc) instead of exaggerating generalities and character assassinating me and defaming me.”
Mua had referred the matter to his lawyers for advice and possible legal action against the two.
With regards to being referred to parliament on a motion, he said: “I have unwittingly been accorded the honour of being the only private citizen in the history of the country to have ever been referred for prosecution by the National Parliament of PNG.
“The normal police investigation and prosecution process are fully functional and available if Igime, Sir Mekere and (Belden) Namah think that I ought to be prosecuted.”