ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY INTO PROCESSES AND PROCEDURES FOLLOWED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA INTO OBTAINING THE OFF-SHORE LOAN FROM THE UNION BANK OF SWITZERLAND AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
The Final Report is now available here
Presentation of the Report to the Prime Minister
PRESS STATEMENT NO. 2 of 2022
Further to Press Statement 1 of 2022 issued on 12 January 2022 which outlined the dates for further public hearings and for the final oral submissions by Counsel Assisting to follow shortly after the close of evidence, the Commissioners today announced as follows:
The full Commission is likely to sit for final oral submissions by Counsel Assisting on Friday, 18 February 2022.
Potentially affected individuals and entities are reminded of Practice Note No. 4, published to the Commission website on 22 March 2021, which details the procedure for a witness, by counsel or personally, to seek leave to examine another witness.
Since the publication of Practice Note No. 4, the Commission has heard evidence from a number of witnesses and a volume of written witness statements have recently been made available for viewing by those with leave to appear.
Having regard to the imminent date for final submissions, any individual or entity wishing to make an application for examination of a witness should do so promptly and by no later than 6pm on Monday, 14 February 2022.
Potentially affected individuals and entities will have until 5pm on Monday, 28 February 2022 to lodge any written submissions in response, and the Commission will deliver its report by 31 March 2022.
DATED this 11th day of February 2022.
Sir Salamo Injia, Kt. GCL
Chairman and Chief Commissioner
PNG commission into UBS loan seeks cross-border co-operation
Jonathan Shapiro and Lisa Murray, Australian Financial Review - 22 August 2021
The chief commissioner overseeing the inquiry into the controversial $1.3 billion loan made by investment bank UBS to Papua New Guinea may call on other nations such as Australia to compel key individuals into providing evidence to the investigation.
As two weeks of hearings into the disastrous loan agreement that cost the PNG $432 million but netted the investment bank’s Australian unit tens of millions in fees and interest, the counsel assisting the commission, Dr James Renwick, SC, called for more time and expanded terms of reference to complete their work. Read More...
Latest Updates
Investment bank UBS asked to repay tens of millions of dollars to PNG
ABC Radio Australia, On Pacific Beat - 20 August 2021
The Australian branch of international investment bank UBS is being asked to repay tens of millions of dollars to Papua New Guinea, after a royal commission in the country was told the bank "preyed" on the "poor country".
In 2014, the PNG Government took out a $AUD 1.2 billion loan through the Sydney office of UBS to buy shares in the ASX-listed company Oil Search.
UBS fees on PNG loan were ‘very stiff’, inquiry told
Lisa Murray and Jonathan Shapiro, Australian Financial Review - 18 August 2021
UBS charged “very stiff” fees for an overly complex loan to Papua New Guinea, a transaction that resulted in a value transfer to the investment bank of $174.8 million, a royal commission was told on Wednesday. Read More...
K3bil gift to Oil Search
The National, 27 July 2021
THE Peter O’Neill government’s Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan transaction in 2014 was simply a gift of US$900 million (K3bil) to Oil Search Ltd, former Treasurer and Aitape-Lumi MP Patrick Pruaitch told a commission of inquiry yesterday.
Pruaitch told the inquiry that Parliament had not approved the loan as required under the Constitution. He said Oil Search used the funds to procure PRL15, the Elk and Antelope fields... Read More...
O’Neill explains loan deal
The National, 28 June 2021
FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill told the Commission of Inquiry into the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) K3 billion loan two weeks ago that seeking parliamentary approval for loans had not been practised in the past. He told the inquiry on June 17 that “in my recollection, Parliament has never sat for every specific loan approval or transaction”.
“It does not require special sessions as and when transactions of Government are being made.
“Parliament approved through the budgetary process,” he said.. Read More...
Solicitor admits external pressure on UBS Loan
By Trevor Wahune, Post Courier, 24 June 2021
State Solicitor Daniel Rolpagarea has admitted to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the processes of how the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS) loan was obtained there was pressure on him at the time his office was assigned to make clearance for the transaction of K3 billion . Read More...
Revealed: PNG lost $576m on UBS loan in under four years
By Angus Grigg, National Affairs Correspondent, Australian Financial Review, 21 June 2021
Papua New Guinea lost $US432 million ($576 million) in just 3½ years on a loan arranged by the Sydney office of UBS, far more than earlier estimates, a royal commission into the ill-fated deal heard on Monday. Read More...
UBS was a bad loan: Polye
Post Courier, 21 June 2021
Kandep MP Don Polye has told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the off-shore Union Bank of Switzerland loan last Friday that he was decommissioned as the then-treasury minister via a text message by former Prime Minister Peter O'Neill when he refused to sign the UBS loan deal in 2014. Read More...
O'Neill: Not government borrowing but a State-owned entity borrowing
By Todagia Kelola, Post Courier, 18 June 2021
Former Prime Minister and Member for Ialibu Pangia, Peter O'Neill has told the Royal Commission of Inquiry into UBS loan that Section 209 of the constitution on Parliamentary Responsibility concerning loans by the Government, in his understanding cannot apply to this UBS Loan because that provision is basically for budget financing.
The UBS offshore loan was a Government investment decision, and can be approved by parliament during the Budget session in November or December each year. Read More...
Norton Rose under fire for withholding documents
By Angus Grigg, National Affairs Correspondent, Australian Financial Review
Top tier law firm Norton Rose Fulbright is refusing to hand over any client files relating to its work on a disastrous $1.2 billion loan extended to Papua New Guinea and said it would no longer co-operate with a royal commission set up to investigate the deal put together by investment bank UBS.
Norton Rose has been heavily criticised by the commission for its “intransigence” and for refusing to hand over the files despite its client, entities owned by the PNG state, providing at least three letters of consent. Read More...
New AGL chairman under pressure over PNG royal commission
By Angus Grigg, National Affairs Correspondent, Australian Financial Review
Former Oil Search managing director Peter Botten is under pressure to co-operate with an inquiry examining his role in a disastrous $1.2 billion loan extended by the Sydney office of UBS to the government of Papua New Guinea.
The PNG royal commission of inquiry into the 2014 deal was told on Friday that Oil Search was yet to hand over any files despite a request being made five weeks ago, prompting an accusation of double standards. Read More...
