The outgoing Papua New Guinea ambassador to the Philippines, Graham Ainui, has denied a media report that he head butted a taxi driver in Manila.
Mr Ainui was alleged to have assaulted the driver in an argument over a fare incurred by a female friend.
But he says in a letter to the PNG foreign ministry that the report is wrong.
He says he became involved in an argument between the driver and the woman who the driver mistook for being his friend.
Mr Ainui says he tried to resolve the issue by giving him some money but there was a scuffle during which he may have bumped him.
