The warrant, which sought to have O’Neill questioned over corruption allegations, was defective, supreme court says

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A long-standing arrest warrant for the prime minister of Papua New Guinea has been thrown out of court, years after it was first issued by anti-corruption police.

The prime minister, Peter O’Neill – who had made extensive efforts over the years to challenge the 2014 warrant – welcomed the decision, which he said had brought to end a “witch hunt”.

The PNG supreme court voided the warrant – which sought him for questioning over allegedly corrupt payments to a Port Moresby law firm – as defective.

According to the ABC, the three-man bench of the supreme court found officers did not follow the arrest regulations and there was information missing from the form. It also contained spelling mistakes.

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The court found the warrant failed to meet legal requirements and was issued without jurisdiction.

“It follows that the warrant is defective on its face and the decision to issue it is equally defective,” the judgment said. “The lack of care in its preparation is also concerning.”

The warrant was issued in 2014 by anti-corruption body Taskforce Sweep, as part of a long-running corruption inquiry. O’Neill had been accused of authorising the payments to the law firm but refused to show up for questioning, gaining legal injunctions from PNG courts. He has since sacked the attorney general and deputy police commissioner. Taskforce Sweep was defunded.

At the time, Transparency International PNG likened it to “a disgruntled player sacking the referee and changing the rules”.

O’Neill maintained the investigation made no sense and that he had a legal right to challenge the warrant.

His handling of the corruption allegations sparked student protests this year, which police responded to with live fire, shooting several students. Health workers and airline pilots also protested.

A split in the police force largely divided officers between the police commissioner and the two high-ranking anti-corruption officers who were suspended from duty after they arrested some top officials, including the attorney general and a supreme court judge.

O’Neill survived a no-confidence motion last year before going on to retain the prime ministership at this year’s national elections.

On Friday, he welcomed the court’s decision to quash the warrant, which he said was “an attempt by political opponents in 2014 to manipulate government agencies”.

“From the start, this was a political witch hunt based on a complaint by the then leader of the opposition, who could not change government on the floor of parliament, so he engaged in other means,” O’Neill said in a lengthy statement.

“This would have opened the way for every future elected prime minister of the country to be falsely accused, charged and forced to resign – all based on false allegations.

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“[The] supreme court decision clearly demonstrates that the legal interventions I sought, to have this matter tested in the courts, was the right approach as now justice has prevailed and precedent has been set.”

He said the corruption saga had nothing to do with his government but was a “dubious matter” of the administration of his predecessor, Michael Somare.

O’Neill also took aim at the ABC, which has a permanent correspondent in Papua New Guinea, but did not say what he thought it had misreported.

He said it had “continuously acted without due care for the legal process that is taking place in the country”.

“They have continuously portrayed an image of our country in a bad light. They take cheap shots, do not investigate and have a vested interest in presenting a bad image of the nation to promote their own careers.”

It is not the first time O’Neill has criticised the ABC, which has extensively covered the corruption allegations, the police shooting of student protesters and the Manus Island refugee detention centre among other stories.

Now that the warrant had been dealt with, it had cleared the air for the government to debate and discuss the establishment of an independent commission against corruption, O’Neill said.