Transnational cartel operations increasing, says Juffa

TRANSNATIONAL cartel operations in the country have been increasing over the years, according to Northern Governor Gary Juffa.
Juffa told the Start-Up PNG 2019 convention yesterday that these international cartels were “very dangerous because they steal on a national level from the country”.
He said the challenge for the Government was to rebuild measures to protect the country from such international criminal groups.
“We have emerging into our economy these transnational organisations,” he said.
“They are very dangerous people and are not your ordinary criminal. Transnational criminal will steal from an economy impacting the entire nation and its future.
“You need to attend to this people and ensure that your nation and economy are protected with the capacity to monitor what is happening to deal with it and identify the threats.”
He said most of the consumer laws which protected the people and businesses had been removed.
An example is the anti-dumping laws.
“That’s why there is a lot of counterfeit items flooding into the country,” he said.
PNG is a signatory to the World Trade Organisation laws which means that whatever is stipulated must be done to ensure there is free trade.
“You have to understand that these organisations serve powerful economies, economies that don’t care about the country,” he said.
“As far as they are concerned, your role is to produce raw resources for their economy, they will then manufacture and sell for a huge profit. They don’t care about what happens in your country.”