Diro charges

Headlines

Papua New Guinea

Cabinet

announced

PAPUA NEW GUINEA’S prime minister, Paias Wingti, announced a 27-member cabinet 10 days after taking office.

Wingti’s cabinet includes leaders of the two parties in his coalition government Sir Julius Chan and John Nilkare, and leading independent MPs who played a major role in electing him to office.

Meanwhile, former PNG prime minister Rabbie Namaliu has quit politics. His announcement, two weeks after he lost power by one parliamentary vote, said he was quitting so he could spend more time with his ill wife.

His wife, Margaret Nakikus, is in hospital in Australia

suffering from leukaemia.

Another former prime minister, Sir Michael Somare, has been appointed leader of the Opposition.

Diro charges dismissed

A PNG court has dismissed criminal charges against former deputy prime minister Ted Diro. He had been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after an incident in 1988 during an inquiry into the country’s forest industry. Diro, who was a senior government member at the time wrote to the Opposition and promised to support a motion of no confidence to overthrow prime minister Paias Wingti’s then government.

The letter had said Diro’s People’s Action Party would support then Opposition leader Rabbie Namaliu if a new government stopped the inquiry. Wingti’s government fell in nid-1988 and Diro became deputy prime minister but the nquiry continued and implicated him in corrupt practices.

Magistrate Karo Vagi has ruled the charghes be dismissed because Diro’s letter did not succeed in stopping the inquiry, de has also ruled Diro cannot face criminal charges because le had already been tried and found guilty by the Leadership fribunal, which hears cases of misconduct by PNG’s leaders, September the tribunal convicted him on 81 charges of :orruption and ruled he be sacked from parliament and banned fom contesting elections for at least three years.

Somare: Opposition leader