PNG anti-corruption commission compromised - activist

11:01 am on 10 October 2018

An activist in Papua New Guinea is accusing the government of establishing an interim Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to investigate political opponents.

Act Now! coordinator, Eddie Tanago

Act Now! coordinator, Eddie Tanago Photo: ACT NOW!

Eddie Tanago from the PNG watchdog group Act Now said the ICAC had been established within the prime minister's office where he said it would not have any independence.

The interim commission was operating under the direction of the National Executive Council, he said.

In 2012, prime minister Peter O'Neill pledged to establish an ICAC following PNG's ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption in 2007.

PNG was yet to see the draft legislation to establish the commission, Mr Tanago said.

"What Papua New Guinea urgently needs now is a truly independent, fully resourced and a properly empowered ICAC," he said.

"An ICAC is supposed to be a body that is free from any government or any political interference."

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