O’Neill denies payment orders

By KARO JESSE
FORMER prime minister Peter O’Neill has testified in court that he never gave directions for any funds to be paid to any contractor for two diesel generators in 2013.
He is facing a trial for abuse of office over a letter he wrote to Treasury acting secretary Dairi Vele to identify funds to buy the generators.
It was alleged that O’Neill made a submission to cabinet on March 5, 2014, seeking approval for PNG Power to buy the generators for K94 million without disclosing that K50 million had already been paid to LR Group on Dec 18, 2013.
The balance of K44 million was paid on June 26, 2014, after then-finance minister James Marape issued an approval for PNG Power to enter into contract with the Israeli company.
O’Neill is alleged to have paid the K50 million when the purported contract of sale did not exist and without proper approval.
Yesterday, in a cross-extermination at the Waigani National Court, O’Neill explained that the letter he sent to Vele was only for the purpose of identifying funding which was to be kept in a Treasury account at Bank of Papua New Guinea to allow for the procurement process to buy the generators.
He said that through evidence brought before the court he came to understand that there were shortfalls in the procurement process which no Government agency advised him about.
“Procurement exercises have not been carried out properly and I noticed that from evidence submitted,” O’Neill said.
“Evidence points out that officials may not have done the job that they should have done. That is to ensure that contracts were in place. I don’t understand why payments are made without a contract.
“And section 32, officers and minister approval were given without proper documentation.
“I did not ask anyone to pay any contractor, I asked for procurement and installation of the generators.”
O’Neill said that if he had been advised about the shortcomings in the procurement process, he would have called it off.
He assured the court that he was not involved in the procurement process and any other procurement and was not aware of what was going on.
He said the question they should be asking was who directed the release of K50 million that was paid to LR Group Ltd for the generators.
He said the letter indicated for Treasury to find funds for procurement and installation of the generators.
“Usually, around the year when the budget is being discussed for the following year, there are some times savings in the expenditure budget which the Government needed to re-allocate,” he said
“Likewise, when there is revenue that has been indicated to the Government by Treasury, we re-allocate that through supplementary budget while at the same time presenting the budget for the following year.”