MORE LIES FROM THE MASTER OF LIES
Once again the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Mr Peter O’Neill, has lied to Parliament and the people of Papua New Guinea.
He told the House yesterday that when he illegally took over Ok Tedi, the company was making a loss.
That is a lie. The accompanying figures, obtained from Ok Tedi’s own publicly reported accounts, show that Ok Tedi was at its most profitable when majority owned by PNG Sustainable Development Program Ltd.
Since Mr O’Neill’s illegal expropriation in 2013, reported profits have been slashed to less than one-third of what they were.
In 2012, the last year of PNGSDP majority ownership, profit was K913.3. In 2016, the last reported year of O’Neill ownership, profit was K384 million.
Average annual profit under PNGSDP was K1172 million. Average annual profit under Mr O’Neill was K98 million.
Returns to Western Province through development programs have fallen to virtually zero.
Western Province has also not been given the 33% shareholding in Ok Tedi promised by Mr O’Neill.
Importantly, Mr O’Neill has never explained what he has done with the billions of missing money generated by Ok Tedi. It is the same as LNG income: each year K20 billion worth of gas is shipped overseas every year. Where is the money?