Papua New Guinea's prime minister James Marape denied any connection to a suitcase containing PGK 1.56 m AU $650,000 in cash that police found in Hela province, just as voting in the country's election was about to begin.
Mospal Marape, the son of the prime minister, was arrested after being found with a suitcase full of cash, PGK 1.56 m AU $650,000, in Hela province, where voting in the country s election kicked off this week.
Mospal Marape was brought to the police station for questioning, but was released some hours later and allowed to go and vote on Monday, the first day of voting in Papua New Guinea. There were no charges.
Marape, the prime minister, said his son had not been involved in the transportation of the money, and the situation had nothing to do with me. He was not in the plane carrying the money. He was not part of the team that was carrying the money. It was a complete isolated matter from another person who was carrying the money, who happened to be the director of the company. My son had no input in the transportation of the money. The prime minister told the Guardian he was in the vicinity.
Mospal Marape was arrested alongside Sethy Palipe, also from Hela Province, and the managing director of the Ipwenz Construction Company, a local construction company responsible for multi million-dollar projects in the country. A company spokeswoman said the money was going to be used for a road project.
Jerry Manda, a spokesman for Ipwenz Construction Company said in a statement that the money was for the elections was wrong and fake The money is for improvements for the Nipa Ambua Road project. It is not the first time that Ipwenz has been able to withdraw money for construction purposes. He said that since Ipwenz ran 100 m kina projects, the 1.56 m in the suitcase was not big money. A police officer who was not authorized to speak on the record said police received a tip-off about the transportation of the money.
We stopped ped and searched the car, and the alleged driver was protective of his suitcase, so when we searched we found large amounts of cash, the officer said. We had to question and detonate them for a few hours and then released them with the cash because they had a valid reason so we could not charge them. The national election in Papua New Guinea kicked off on Monday and will continue for three weeks. There is a chance that a result will be in the near term by the end of July.
There are concerns about election-related violence in PNG. Since May, at least 30 people have been killed in violence related to election. More than 200 people died during the campaigning, polling and counting before the 2017 election.
The election this year pits prime minister Marape against former prime minister Peter O Neill. Marape served as O Neill's finance minister before resigning in 2019. After a month long tussle for power, O Neill resigned as prime minister and Marape took over.
He came to power with a promise to crack down on corruption and revitalise the economy, and to make PNG the richest black Christian nation on earth. While his government has succeeded in introducing reforms in the country's lucrative mining and resource industries, a lack of economic opportunities in the past, including the Covid epidemic, has caused great frustration among many voters.