Transcript
PAUL PARAKA: What was paid to us was payments over a period of time in respects of so many bills for lawfully rendered work, and lawfully done up legal bills. So that's it. There's nothing unlawful or improper about the payments. The allegations were simply this: there were some political directives for the payments despite higher courts order restraining the payments. That's all. Nothing else. There's no allegation that Paraka Lawyers never undertook any legal work at all, firstly.
Secondly, there was no allegation at all that the legal bills were fraudulent.
JOHNNY BLADES: What was behind the allegations concerning Prime Minister Peter O'Neill - he said his signature was forged - so what was the problem with that particular payment?
PP: Well the things is I also don't understand why it did happen that way. The case didn't have to go this far. It's just that probably there was some silly political bad decisions that were made along the way that created all the mess. And I think I'll leave it like that.
JB: So what happens now? That stuff is all closed, is it?
PP: Well the next thing is I will shoot them, they'll never run away from me. Everyone in the system, the government institutions, they connived, they colluded, they abused the process to destroy the single largest law firm in this country. They will never run away from me, and I will use the same court system to deal with them. I can't go to the police because they'll never do it, they'll abuse the process again. I will prosecute those bastards myself, and I will deal with them and make sure they go behind bars for various offences committed under the criminal code, both bureaucratic leaders and politicians alike.
JB: What I don't understand is who you are accusing of abusing this process?
PP: The (Taskforce) Sweep team members. All the Sweep team members. I'll have them charged constitutionally and criminally. The politicians who were entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing and supervising the Sweep team.
JB: Who is that, the Justice Department?
PP: Well, you can find that out. I don't want to say it. You see, those things, as I deal with them, will become a mater of fact. But ont at this stage. But they're politicians who were involved in that, so many of them. But all the members of the fraud squad first and foremost, and the politicians who oversaw the Sweep team.
JB: Do you know anything about the former solicitor-general (Neville Devete) who has applied for a protection visa in Australia?
PP: Yes. He'll not get it (the protection visa). I have made contact with police down in Australia. Now that my case is over I'll be flying down to Australia next week, and I'll formally lodge by complaint with police and the appropriate authorities down in Australia, as well as the federal court. Two things I will do. Firstly, I will ask the High Court to have both Mr Devete and the director of the fraud squad in Port Moresby (Mathew Damaru) who actually provided some false statements in support of that application, for the court to charge them with contempt of court for lying. Secondly I will report the matter to federal police, to have them arrested and charged under the federal criminal laws of Australia for misleading all the relevant authorities in Australia fraudulently.
JB: But he was facing intimidation and threats.
PP: Those are lies. I never intimidated him. I never threatened him. Hey look, I'm a lawyer in this country. PNG is a small nation: I can't go around threatening and intimidating everyone.
JB: I didn't say you issued a threat.
PP: No, I'm just saying. I never intimidated this guy. So they're lying. They misled the federal authorities for their own personal gain. I can tell you. Devete was not going to give any evidence at any stage in our case. So there was no immediate threat on him. He's been living a luxurious life down in Australia since 2013. And for five years my case never went to a trial stage for Devete to fly out to give his evidence.
