PM likely to reissue cheque to Lutheran

 Reports by MALUM NALU

PRIME Minister Peter O’Neill is likely to order a reissue of the K5 million cheque that former Evangelical Lutheran Church of PNG head bishop Giegere Wenge is holding on to and refusing to give to the church.

A well-placed source said at the weekend that O’Neill was likely to do this after the uproar among Lutherans about Wenge being reluctant to release the cheque.

Yesterday, a spokesman for O’Neill said he had already stated the intent of the K5 million which he presented at last month’s synod in Finschhafen – which was to help in reviving the defunct Lutheran Shipping.

“The PM has clearly stated the intent of the K5 million,” he told The National.

“The former bishop has no authority to alter the cheque, deposit, or try to use it for purposes other than what it was given for.

“To do so is wrong and the former bishop must hand over the cheque to the group appointed by the church with the responsibility of reviving Lutheran Shipping.

“That’s the intent of the cheque, isn’t it?

“The bishop must hand over the cheque to the Voluntary Liquidation Supervisory Committee led by (former Lae MP) Bart Philemon, that is charged with the responsibility of reviving Lutheran Shipping.”

Philemon told The National last week that while his committee was trying to buy a catamaran from the Philippines, Wenge was trying to buy two vessels from Malaysia through a shelf company without the blessing of the church council.

Wenge told The National last week he made the submission for government assistance for Lutheran Shipping, and was therefore entitled to say how the money should be used.  

He said this when asked to comment on a report in The National that he was refusing to hand over K5 million which Prime Minister Peter O’Neill presented at the recent church synod in Finschhafen.

Wenge said although Jack Urame was the new ELC-PNG head bishop, “that does not mean that he’s going to get the money now”.

The K5 million was part of an interest-free loan of K10 million O’Neill promised to the 2014 synod in Madang to revive the shipping service.

Lutheran Shipping went into liquidation in 2014 with debts of K27 million, which Wenge had been fighting against, even taking the matter to court.