PORT MORESBY-(MaraviPost)-Police have arrested former prime minister Peter O’Neill on Saturday May 23 at the main airport of Port Moresby, PNG’s capital for the purchase of two generators from Israel without following procurement processes.
Assistant crimes commissioner Hodges Ette confirmed this in a statement issued.
In a statement issued by the commissioner’s office, O’Neill is accused of buying two generators from Israel at 50m kina ($14.2m) without following the country’s public financial management law, without parliamentary approval and without putting the sale to tender.
According to The Guardian, O’Neill will be allowed on bail as part of procedure to prevent the spread of Covid-19 since he has just arrived from Australia and he is expected to be quarantined at his own residence for 14 days.
O’Neill led the country from 2011 and he resigned on Wednesday 29 May, 2019 after serving for seven year.
His decision to resign came in after he was forced to step down due to a string of corruption allegations including the purchase of 40 Maseratis for an Asia-Pacific leaders’ summit he hosted and he was replaced by his former Finance Minister James Marape.