Sir Mekere wants probe into Apec car controversy

MORESBY North-West MP Sir Mekere Morauta has written to the Ombudsman Commission and Fraud Squad calling for an inquiry into the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation luxury cars controversy.
The former prime minister said there should be enough information for the commission to look into the matter.
He said there was a strong likelihood that the Leadership Code, the Constitution, the Criminal Code and other laws had been breached.
“About K33 million in taxpayers’ money appears to have been spent on luxury cars without due process being followed,” he said.
“The people of Papua New Guinea have a right to know what happened to this money.”
He said that despite several requests, the prime minister, the Apec minister and the Apec chief executive officer had offered no explanation.
“The only option now is for full investigations,” he said.
“The seriousness of the potential illegal conduct also justified a wider inquiry into Apec spending, estimated to be K3 billion by the World Bank, based on government advice.
“If the illegalities of the luxury cars spending are replicated across other Apec spending, then we have corruption as bad as any seen in the world in the past few years.”