Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape accused Australian offshore detention contractor Paladin of having “sullied the reputation of PNG”, and threatened to detain and deport its staff.

Mr Marape’s scathing comments about Paladin, a key contractor on Manus Island, were made in a letter he sent the company on October 24 last year, shortly after The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald reported that an unnamed senior PNG official had allegedly sought a $15,000 payment from then Paladin director Ian Stewart.

Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape. Credit:AAP

“If there is any evidence that any official, at any level, has sought bribes from your company, I demand that you furnish the details now. These are not matters that should be played out in the media,” the PNG Prime Minister wrote in a letter to the company's CEO, David Saul.

“The fact is that your company has continued to attract headlines globally for all the wrong reasons. In doing so, you have sullied the reputation of PNG.”