Yes, it's back to the nonsensical purchase of the Fokker 70, built 20 years ago by the bankrupt and long departed Fokker airline maker. All Fokker planes in Air Niugini's fleet are ancient: between 20-25 years old. Air Niugini still uses them because it's another money-losing SOE that through creative auditing and delayed financial reports, covers up its reality: It has no financial ability to buy new airplanes and is slowly heading down the financial toilet. In response, Peter O'Neill names failed businessman Sir Frederick Rieher the Chairman! You may remember the name Reiher.
A few years back he was given K40 million to build 200 houses near Gerehu. He built 2 or 3 and that was it (http://www.pngblogs.com/…/k40m-housing-project-contract-sho…). We don't know for certain that he returned the money (naturally, he promised to. Even Paul Tientsen promises to return the money he stole), but we do know that he continued as a PM office staff member, his reputation unblemished, and he came up with a few million kina around that time to buy a house in Brisbane, where he joins Pais Wingti and a number of of other dishounourables in living the fine life out of sight of the PNG public.
With this second Fokker70 article, we have another round of O'Neill Tok, this time mostly presented by the dishonourable Reiher. Peter O'Neill is the master of doubletok, denialtok, 180 degree reversal tok, and outright lies. O'Neill recruits people like Reiher who talk the same tok to assist with creating misinformation and disinformation. The main goal is never to communicate accurately what government is doing. More likely they're out to cover up obviously irrational decisions or actions and present them as if they make sense.
They DO make sense but only in the context of the hidden scam. In learning how to translate O'Neill tok, one technique that usually works is to assume that Peter and his friends are up to something. Specifically they're on the lookout for legal loopholes to corruptly put government money into their pockets. Armed with that (usually true) assumption, you then read the story again and think about what kind of schemes they might be planning that explains what would seem to be, on the surface, an irrational decision or action by the government.
In the case of anything to do with Air Niugini these days, the candidate "hidden story" is that O'Neill and his cronies are beefing up Air Niugini using public funds to get it packed with assets. Why that? They already know from the last attempt at privatising Air Niugini years ago that absolutely no reputable outside airline is interested in acquiring this bottomless money-eating monster. Thus, when privatisation is forced onto the airline, it will be sold at rock bottom prices, probably spinning off the domestic and an international divisions into 2 different hands. Expect the international unit to remain in government hands as a perpetual money-losing business so that the whole gang of corrupts can escape for PNG for holiday or residence in Australia whenever they like.
When it's offered for sale, we'll all want Air Niugini to be sold to an "experienced" operator. And who'll raise their hand? Why, it'll be Peter O'Neill, proud owner of South West Air! Of course, we should politely overlook that only 2 planes make up this company, and ignore the fact that if O'Neill makes the purchase, he will have pulled off a brilliant, dubiously legal move, to gain control of public assets at a very cheap price. More likely, he would pursue acquiring the assets through a giaman holding company where his name is not so conspicuous.
Dear readers, expect the same kind of scams being planned for most of the SOE's. It will either be outright purchase by O'Neill cronies or hidden kickback schemes to outside companies that win the "competition" to own their very own former SOE. In the case of Air Niugini, if the growing fleet of aged airplanes can't be managed profitably, there's always a solution -- close down the airline after you've bought it from the government, sell all the assets to crazies around the world, then sit down and count all the money you've made at the expense of the poor taxpayer! It's the Peter O'Neill way.
