Former PNG leader arrested over UBS loan inquiry

Papua New Guinea police arrested former prime minister Peter O'Neill on Monday and charged him with giving false evidence about a Aus$1.2 billion loan to his administration by Swiss banking giant UBS.

O'Neill, who led the resource-rich Pacific Island nation from 2011 to 2019, was charged with three counts of "giving false evidence under oath" to a royal commission of inquiry into the affair, police said.

The former leader, who denies the allegations, was later taken to a police station in Port Moresby and released on bail, police said in a statement.

"From police investigations, the evidence gathered confirmed that the answers given before the commission were flawed and untrue," Police Commissioner David Manning said.

O'Neill's administration bought a 10-percent stake in PNG-focused Oil Search through the loan from UBS's Australian branch in 2014.

The value of the stock later fell, resulting in a heavy loss when the shares were sold three years later, according to the Australian Financial Review.

After following up the findings of the three-year commission of inquiry, police charged O'Neill with making false declarations about his knowledge of Oil Search's use of the investment.

O'Neill denied the charges.

"They think that I have perjured myself but as far as I know I did not mislead the commission of inquiry," he told reporters outside the police headquarters.

"We will test this in court," he said.

The commission of inquiry, set up in 2019 by current Prime Minister James Marape, delivered a final report last year that called for O'Neill to be prosecuted for giving false evidence and referred to the country's independent commission against corruption.

 

AFP