National Executive Council (NEC)-appointed Police Commissioner, Geoffrey Vaki was arrested this afternoon by the Fraud and Anti-Corruption team.
Vaki was arrested at the police headquarters in Port Moresby between 3 and 4pm. The Police Association was the first to step up and support the arrest.
The arrest was made minutes before the handover takeover ceremony of the Police Commissioner.
Present were the Police Minister, Robert Atiyafa, Sir Tom Kulunga and Geoffrey Vaki.
The Police Association, just after the arrest, appealed to the Prime Minister and the National Executive Council to refrain from politicising the constabulary and called on the Prime Minister to make himself available to be interviewed by fraud investigators.
Police Union executives made this statement after the NEC revoked the appointment of Deputy Commissioner Operations, Simon Kauba, after he purportedly restrained Geoffrey Vaki from performing the functions of the Commissioner.
Union President Leuth Nidung said the revocation of Sir Tom Kulunga’s term as commissioner and the appointment of Mr Vaki as acting commissioner is highly suspicious, because this happened immediately after Kulunga invited the Prime Minister to come in for an interview over the Paul Paraka case.
Meantime, Mr Vaki’s lawyer told media outside the fraud office that his client’s arrest is subjudice; he called for the fraud squad to release him.
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