BY MIRIAM ZARRIGA of Post Courier
In a Post Courier news article, the man at the centre of the Manumanu and warrant of arrest on the Prime Minister and the closure of the investigations Chief Superintendent Matthew Damaru has maintained that the investigations were closed only after all avenues and aspects of the cases were exhausted.
Mr Damaru, who is the director of the police national fraud and anti-corruption unit, said for the Manumanu land deal the year-long investigation was concluded after all files were looked at and documented.
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| PM O'Neill (left) and Damaru (right) |
“All avenues were looked at in the year-long investigation into the Manumanu land deal and we could not find anything wrong with both senior ministers.
“In particular William Duma, now the current Minister for Public Enterprises and State Investments, he was not even the minister during the deal and he inherited the issue.”
Mr Damaru said they are tasked with investigating the cases and the reports were filed and presented to the Police Commissioner Gari Baki.
“I have filed the report and presented to the Police Commissioner who has the jurisdiction to make a call according to the report.”
Mr Damaru earlier last week said in the case of the warrant of arrest against the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, police examined the detailed rebuttal of allegations levelled against him and after the reassessment of the evidence the allegations lacked the required elements to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt.
In turn the Police Commissioner said the report on both cases were extensive and based on that he made the decisions to close both cases.
Mr Baki said he had not been influenced and he had not been paid by any member as reiterated by several Opposition MPs, including outspoken Member for Madang Open Bryan Kramer, former prime minister Sir Mekere Morauta and Shadow Attorney-General Kerenga Kua.
“The report I received was extensive and was not a fake or a fraudulent document at all,” he said.
“As I have said many times, no one tells me what to do and no one will influence the office of the Police Commissioner, and I stand by my statement.”
Mr Baki was scathing in a media statement, in particular to Sir Mekere, when he said the continuous misleading claims about a discredited attempt to serve an arrest warrant against the Prime Minister four years ago was misleading and only served to undermine the public confidence in law enforcement operations.
Source: Post-Courier - Monday, September 3, 2018
