Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

PNG leader says it will be Cabinet’s decision whether to table Moti inquiry report

Posted at 07:34 on 30 July, 2007 UTC

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Sir Michael Somare says whether the defence force inquiry into the Julian Moti affair is ever made public is up to Cabinet.

Mr Moti, who is now the Solomon Islands Attorney General and is wanted in Australia to answer allegations of child sex, was illegally spirited out of PNG onboard a military plane in October last year.

Findings of the inquiry have yet to be made public, but they are understood to heavily implicate Sir Michael in ordering the flight.

Sir Michael has always denied this, and he blames government officials.

But he says it is up to Cabinet to decide if it should be tabled in Parliament.

“And we have a parliamentary process in which we deal with things. We are not going to just listen to outsiders, our critics, to tell us what to do. No, I have got a country to run and other people [should] mind their own business. Now Moti is nothing to do with us, he is an Australian citizen and it’s Australia’s business to deal with Solomon Islands and not Papua New Guinea.”