Allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement within the Australia-funded refugee support program in Papua New Guinea will be formally investigated by the Port Moresby government.
After allegations from a whistleblower inside PNG’s immigration authority that millions of dollars had potentially been misused, PNG’s deputy prime minister, also the minister for immigration, John Rosso, has ordered an audit into where the money has gone.
“The serious allegations by the whistleblower, separate complaints raised by other parties, the local and international media coverage on it, and the undertaking by the Australian government to investigate the program, requires our government to carry out our own audit into the arrangement,” Rosso said.
He said he had written to PNG’s chief migration officer Stanis Hulahau, demanding a report on the secretive Australian-funded refugee support scheme – the details of which both Port Moresby and Canberra have consistently refused to reveal publicly.
“I directed that the report should cover the current management of the program,” Rosso said, “the bilateral funding involved, and the process involved in the management of the funds with a list of all the service providers.”
In an interview with the Guardian a week ago, Hulahau said the allegations of corruption were false and motivated by malice.
“What is being said is not true,” he said. “These allegations are false, and there has been no evidence provided.
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