Pressured to clear loan

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STATE Solicitor Daniel Rolpagarea told the commission of inquiry looking into a K3 billion loan obtained by the Government in 2014 that he was put under pressure to clear it.
The loan was obtained from the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) by the government led by then Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to buy shares in Oil Search.
He admitted that there was pressure on his office to clear the K3 billion loan.
He told the inquiry that two men, one of whom was Carl Okuk from the Pacific Legal Group, had arrived at his office with the UBS loan documents on March 5, 2014.
“The two men brought 17 numbered documents to my office and told me that they have been sent by the acting secretary for Treasury Dairi Vele, for me to review and clear,” he said.
He said he was told that the National Executive Council was going to meet the next day to discuss the UBS loan.
“I then received a letter from Vele instructing me to review the documents and have them cleared,” he said.
Rolpagarea said the primary function of his office was to provide legal clearance to cases which the State was a party to.
He said he instructed Vele and his counterparts that the submissions required a proper approval from Parliament as required under Section 209 of the Constitution.
He said Parliament must approve all revenue, expenditure and taxes implemented by the State through the proper processes.
But Rolpagarea said he did not agree that the requirements under that section of the constitution had been complied with to obtain the UBS loan.
“This should have gone through Parliament,” he said.
He will appear before the inquiry again on Monday.