Polye unaware of genset decision

By KARO JESSE
KANDEP MP and former treasury minister Don Polye has told the court that he was not aware of any cabinet decision to buy two 15-megawatt (MW) diesel turbine power generators from Israeli company IR Group Ltd in 2013.
Polye was yesterday cross-examined as a witness in a trial over alleged abuse of office by former prime minister Peter O’Neill in the Waigani National Court.
He had allegedly directed the purchase of the two generators for K50 million.
Polye explained that he only knew of the purchasing of the generators after a letter from O’Neill dated Dec 4, 2013, directing acting treasury secretary Dairi Vele was served on him by officers of the department.
The letter from O’Neill to Vele was for the purpose of identification of funds to purchase the generators.
Polye said when he saw the letter, he noticed that the decision to purchase the generators was not done through proper process.
“There was no cabinet decision that authorised the purchasing of the generators,” he told the court.
Polye said there was a policy submission subsequent to O’Neill’s visit to Israel, which a National Executive Council (NEC) decision gave direction to respective agencies and departments to implement that policy decision.
However, Polye said there was lack of business paper for the purchasing of the generators that would have been submitted to cabinet for determination.
He said the K50 million would have come through a business paper, but it never came.
Polye gave evidence that after he knew about the plans to buy the generators, he called all his department secretaries, Vele, deputy secretary Aloysius Hamou and Enoch Elpa and advised them that the decision to purchase the generators was illegal and out of legal process and urged them to advise O’Neill to call it off.
However, Polye stated that his advice was ignored.
He said he wrote to Vele, urged him to advise O’Neill that the purchase was illegal but Vele did not follow his advice.
Polye also wrote to the Governor of Central Bank Loi Bakani advising him of the nature of the decision, but Bakani’s response was that the cheque was already processed and his job was to execute what Treasury started.
Polye said in normal protocal or process, O’Neill would have written directly to him and not my secretary (Vele).
“When you look at it professionally, O’Neill meant to avoid me,” he said.
Polye said despite the K50 million for the purchase of the generators was appropriated in the supplementary budget which he presented, he said it was just a paper guided by the Public Finance Management Act and other laws which were subjected to cabinet scrutiny that did not eventuate.
Meanwhile, then attorney-general and justice minister Kerenga Kua, now the Minister of Petroleum, also appeared in court as a witness.
He told the court chaired by Justice David Cannings that despite the fact that he was a cabinet member at that time, he was not aware of any decision from the NEC to buy the generators.
“If there was a decision, I would have been aware as I always attend most of the cabinet meetings, unless I am away in the district” Kua said.