NEC approved loan: Sir Puka

By BOURA GORUKILA
FORMER shadow minister for State Enterprises Sir Puka Temu recalled that Cabinet approved the cabinet paper for the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan after Bank of Papua New Guinea (BPNG) Governor Loi Bakani and Treasury secretary Dairi Vele did a presentation to Cabinet, convincing members that the loan was good to go.
“I supported the submissions because I felt that relevant entities such as BPNG Governor Bakani and Treasury secretary Vele, their presentation and presence gave me comfort to support the submission,” he told the Commission of Inquiry into the UBS loan yesterday.
“I recall the then Treasurer Patrick Pruaitch tabled the loan documents and issued a ministerial statement on the loan which was then approved by parliament.
“I cannot recall the dates. I also recall there was a supplementary budget that dealt with the interest to be paid on the loan in 2014.”
When counsel assisting the inquiry Elevente Jurth asked Sir Puka about his attendance at a special National Executive Council (NEC) meeting on March 6, 2014, and his involvement relating to discussions about the NEC policy submissions presented to NEC at that time and the approval of that submission, Sir Puka said: “When the UBS transaction came to NEC, I did support it as I was aware that PNG had always had Oil Search shares as it has been a Government policy mandated by the Constitution to participate in resource development.”
Sir Puka will return to the inquiry tomorrow to clarify the roles Bakani and Vele played during the presentation to Cabinet as asked by Chief Commissioner Sir Salamo Injia.