The Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary must be fully resourced to effectively combat corruption and associated criminal activities.
This was the call made to the new Government to be by the Transparency International (TIPNG) in support of a media statement made by Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Institute, Dr Bhaskara.
Dr Bhaskara stated that Papua New Guinea was faced with serious risks of money laundering from various criminal activities, including domestic corruption. He also added that PNG lacked resources and manpower to control the problem.
The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) was established within the Royal Papua New Guinea Police Constabulary to investigate unusually large amounts of cash transacted into personal bank accounts to establish the bona fides of the source and provide reports to other relevant authorities. However; the Unit faces shortages in government funding that hamper investigations and officer morale.
TIPNG is focused on ensuring that the National Anti-Corruption Strategy endorsed by the O’Neil Government last year is implemented to strengthen anti-corruption agencies such as the FIU, and the Police Fraud, and Anti-Corruption Directorate. This is to increase resourcing and ensuring that investigators and prosecutors are adequately skilled to better deal with the corruption aspects of money laundering.
Transparency International PNG (TIPNG) will also be canvasing support from other TI chapters in major neighbouring countries to ensure that their governments support and assist the anti-corruption efforts in PNG by unveiling and reporting questionable accumulations of funds and assets from PNG in their nations.
