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| Politics: WHO HOLDS THE TRUTH ABOUT MOTI’S ESCAPE? |
That’s the $m question for the inquiry board
Oseah Philemon
In the end, it will come down to who told the truth and who didn’t about how the controversial Solomon Islands attorney-general Julian Moti, wanted by Australia on child sex charges, managed to escape from Papua New Guinea aboard a military aircraft.
Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare, had been summoned by the Defence Force Board of Inquiry to answer questions in relation to his role in the clandestine flight.
This followed revelations by the suspended government’s security adviser Joseph Asaigo that the order to fly Moti out of PNG came from Somare, through his chief of staff, Leonard Louma.
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Joseph Asaigo (with glasses)... fingered PM Somare as knowing of the clandestine flight.
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Lawyers acting for Somare appeared before the Defence Board of Inquiry demanding its immediate discontinuation by disbanding itself.
Somare’s lawyer Kerenga Kua also questioned the appointment of Justice Gibbs Salika as chairman, as well as the composition of the board. This fresh move comes as the inquiry winds down its hearings.
Kua demanded that the inquiry disbands itself and surrender all records, transcripts, files and everything else to the Minister for Defence.
There were strong rumours in Port Moresby last month that Somare was likely to sack his Defence Minister Martin Aini who appointed the Board of Inquiry and replace him with a new minister who will then decommission the inquiry.
THE TRUTH: Documents filed at the National Court by Asaigo alleged that the order came from Somare. But Somare has strongly denied this and accused Asaigo of lying on oath.
Somare said Asaigo should be charged with perjury for lying on oath before the Defence Force Board of Inquiry.
Truth is what Australia wants to know because the outcome of the inquiry will determine the future of Canberra’s diplomatic relations with Port Moresby and Honiara.
Truth is also what Papua New Guineans want to know.
It has become a hot political issue in PNG just as it has become a live wire diplomatic issue between the governments of Australia, on one hand, and PNG and the Solomon Islands on the other.
Up until now, the people in PNG are left wondering who is lying and who is telling the truth. All the evidence so far presented to the inquiry has shed no light on where the truth is in the whole story. It is all confusing and it is up to the inquiry to answer the question: where is the truth?
The escape of Moti from Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands in October last year has created the worst ever diplomatic standoff between Australia and its two small Melanesian neighbours.
Australia has demanded from the PNG Government that the truth be told about whether it authorised the flight.
Somare has repeatedly said he did not authorised the flight.
In November 2006, he told the PNG National Parliament: “Mr Speaker, I state categorically to this parliament and the people of Papua New Guinea that the covert operation that took place (last week) for Mr Moti to leave PNG was done without sanction from this government.”
He added: “I want to also make it emphatically clear that I did not have any prior knowledge of this operation, nor did I authorise it. Any suggestions to the contrary are mischievous and untrue.”
Somare said such an unauthorised action (to fly Moti out of PNG) has very serious implications and the government would deal with those concerned under PNG laws.
The Defence Board of Inquiry headed by National and Supreme Court Judge, Gibbs Salika, is now finalising its report.
Somare regards the Moti issue as a “dead issue”. He says he has already told the truth about what he knows about the matter.
But, one of his most fiery critics, former Treasurer Bart Philemon, does not believe him.
Philemon has called on the Prime Minister to spell out the truth about the Moti flight.
He said: “The Prime Minister knows the truth, why can’t he say so?
“You don’t need three months to come up with the truth. That should have been established within minutes of it happening.
“You know the truth and yet you are hiding it. It is not a dead issue,” said Philemon.
Philemon said it is also in the interest of good governance that the truth is made known.
“This matter has seriously damaged our relations with Australia.
“Australia is our single biggest aid donor with A$300 million annually to PNG. We cannot do without this money. We need it to develop our country,” Philemon said.
“The Prime Minister owes it to the people of Papua New Guinea to come out and tell the truth about the Moti affair.
“More than K1 million of public funds are being used on the inquiry and it is not difficult for anyone to tell the truth. Yet everyone involved is not telling the truth about what actually happened,” Philemon said.
Somare sidetracked by urging Philemon and his other political rivals to concentrate on organising their political parties to win seats in this year’s election rather than talking about issues that won’t benefit the people of Papua New Guinea.
“What Philemon and other so-called founders of their party—the New Generation Party—should do now is to concentrate on organising their party machinery to win the election rather that talking about issues which do not even benefit the people of Papua New Guinea,” said Somare.
“The people of this country were told of the Moti escape through Parliament and Philemon was there with all other leaders when I made the statement on the floor of Parliament. Why should I explain this dead issue to an individual?
“Philemon as well as other party founders and leaders of their respective political parties should concentrate on their party and their policies that would benefit the people of PNG.
“It is about time they start learning the tricks of managing and organising a political party instead of taking a joy-ride on the efforts of others.
“I have a clean record organising political parties since 1966 and I have always won elections and formed governments. No other leaders can manage the feats I have achieved and this is my fourth term as Prime Minister.
“I urge everyone to concentrate on educating their people on issues of their political parties instead of playing cheap politics for their own personal gains and hidden agendas,” said Somare.
Somare’s chief secretary Kalinoe, Chief of Staff Louma and security adviser Asaigo, the man said to be the ringleader in organising the secret flight, have all appeared before the inquiry. But their evidence so far has not shed any light on who actually gave the orders for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force aircraft to fly Moti to the Solomons.
Asaigo alleged it was Louma who told him to get Moti out of PNG and that the order came from the Prime Minister.
John Kawi, counsel assisting the inquiry, said the Prime Minister, as an individual, could have ordered the clandestine escape.
Secretary to the National Executive Council, Winnie Kiap told the inquiry the NEC did not give any orders for the operation.
Kawi at the inquiry said the escape by Moti was a “conspiracy on a grand scale.”
He said he was likely to recommend to police to lay perjury charges against certain witnesses.
“Some of them would have qualified for Olympic gold medals for lying,” said Kawi.
The Government in Honiara has refused to allow the inquiry team to travel there to interview Moti and others about what actually transpired on that side of the Solomon Sea.
Foreign Affairs Minister, Patterson Oti, flew quickly to Port Moresby to tell the Somare Government it does not approve of the inquiry travelling to Honiara.
The board of inquiry is now writing its report based on the evidence it has gathered so far. Everyone is waiting for the report and what it will say about the integrity and quality of evidence given to it by over 40 witnesses, including four journalists who appeared before it.
THE GREAT ESCAPE: For Australia, it remains firmly of the view that the truth about the Moti saga must come out and government officers involved in arranging and executing the escape must be punished for it.
Somare told parliament that PNG is a sovereign country and completely different from Australia.
Therefore, he said any requests coming to PNG from any country must go through the proper legal and appropriate diplomatic channels such as the Department of Foreign Affairs. PNG has in place an Extradition Act 2005 which outlines the extradition processes.
He said advice from the PNG Attorney-General indicated this process was not fully complied with and the arrest of Moti by PNG authorities was not executed in accordance with this legislation.
PNG Opposition Leader Peter O’Neill said the laws of PNG were breached in what he described as “the great escape” of Moti.
He said firstly, there was the warrant of arrest issued by the court which Moti did not comply.
O’Neill said PNG’s civil aviation, defence force and immigration laws were also breached. Added to that, he said was the use of state assets such as the Defence Force aircraft in “the great escape” which was a very serious matter.
Moti was arrested while in transit in the PNG capital, Port Moresby, last September at the request of Australia—which is wanting him for child sex allegations in Vanuatu in 1997.
But after appearing in a PNG court, Moti skipped bail and took refuge in the Solomons High Commission in Port Moresby before fleeing to the Solomons on a flight arranged by the PNG military.
Since then, Solomons’ Prime Minister, Manasseh Sogavare has steadfastly refused to act on Australia’s extradition request.
Sogavare, who is Moti’s close friend, says Canberra only began pursuing the Australian after he was appointed attorney-general.
Why, he asked, didn’t Canberra not move earlier to arrest Moti on nine-year-old charges already dismissed by a Vanuatu court?
Moti’s regular trips to Australia over the years had presented Australia with ample opportunity to do, he said.
It is no secret that Australia was less than thrilled with Moti’s appointment because he had advised Sogavare to set up an inquiry into the riots that devastated the Solomons capital, Honiara, in April 2006. The unrest caught the Australian Federal Police serving there off guard, and more than 30 of them were injured.
Canberra believes the inquiry was designed to clear two jailed Solomons MPs of charges of inciting unrest and shift the blame to the Australian police officers handling the crisis.
The spat surrounding the riots inquiry prompted Sogavare to expel Australia’s high commissioner to the Solomons, Patrick Cole, in mid-September last year.
Cole’s questions about the intentions of the inquiry upset Sogavare, who ordered the envoy’s expulsion for “meddling” in local politics.
Canberra insists it was only trying to uphold the integrity of the judicial proceedings against the two MPs. It has repeatedly denied seeking Moti for political reasons. But Sogavare, undeterred, began complaining loudly to other Pacific leaders, telling them Australia’s push to have Moti arrested was a serious violation of his country’s sovereignty.
His thinly-veiled message was that other Pacific countries could expect the same unless they danced to Canberra’s tune.
Meanwhile, Australia was ramping up its criticism of PNG and the involvement of the country’s military in Moti’s escape. It cancelled planned visits by Somare and his defence minister and also called off the two countries’ annual ministerial forum.
In the lead-up to the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Nadi last year, Sogavare threatened to oust Australians serving with the Australian-led Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI), sent in in mid-2003 to restore law, order and good governance.
He then used the Forum meeting to argue for a reduced Australian role in the mission, and accused Canberra of wielding its aid and security missions like a big stick.
FACE JUSTICE: Australia, he said, was using RAMSI to achieve its own political objectives. The forum agreed to review the mission, but Australia’s lead role is unlikely to be significantly eroded, given the popular support it enjoys among Solomon Islanders.
Australia—in a reply to Sogavare that had an underlying message for other Pacific nations that enjoy its support—insisted it had a right to expect good governance in return for financial and other help. Moti remains in the Solomons and for the moment, out of Australia’s reach. But Canberra vows it won’t abandon efforts to see him face justice.
Whether the Moti saga becomes a hot election issue in PNG this year remains to be seen. But for now, not everyone here is convinced Somare and his officials have told the whole truth about the flight that whisked Moti away to the Solomon Islands.
PNG goes to the general election with the prospects of repaired relations with Australia still hanging in the air.
Australia is not giving up. Its new high commissioner to Port Moresby, Chris Moraitis, last month called on the PNG Government to charge those who helped Moti escape.
“The Australian government has always said it wanted a robust investigation into the affair and appropriate action taken against those persons found responsible,” Moraitis said.
He added: “We are watching the defence (force) board of inquiry’s deliberations with great interest and look forward to seeing the outcomes.”
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