Opposition Leader James Nomane has called for the immediate suspension of a K20 million funds transfer from a commercial bank account into a government-linked seed capital facility.
Nomane said the decision raised serious concerns about transparency, governance, and Papua New Guinea’s compliance with international anti–money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards, particularly given the country’s ongoing placement on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
This comes after the Papua New Guinea Defence Council approved the transfer of K20 million from the Defence Commercial Support Programme (CSP) Trust Account held at Bank South Pacific to the National Banking Corporation seed capital account.
Nomane said the Government continued to state its commitment to AML/CFT reforms, but that decisions like this raised serious questions about oversight and accountability.
“Shifting funds from a fully regulated commercial banking environment into a less transparent investment account structure creates avoidable compliance risks and undermines public confidence in financial governance.”
Nomane called on Prime Minister James Marape, to suspend the transfer pending a parliamentary inquiry, the temporary removal of the Defence Minister pending investigation, an independent AML/CFT risk assessment by the Bank of Papua New Guinea, and the tabling of the Defence Council decision in Parliament.
Nomane said that Papua New Guinea was on the FATF greylist because this government failed to demonstrate credible, sustained commitment to fighting money laundering.
“A blatant example of this failure is how the Defence Council authorised the transfer of K20 million in public Defence funds from Bank South Pacific (BSP) into a National Banking Corporation (NBC) seed capital account, rather than use it on Defence Force needs like catering or equipment.
“This confirms the government is giving lip service to the people of Papua New Guinea about getting off the greylist.”
