The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, has extended a Finance Commission of Inquiry into corruption by another month.
The Inquiry is into alleged fraudulent payments made by the Finance Department between 2000 and 2006.
Its allotted time was up last week but Sir Michael says he appreciates the administrative and legal frustrations which have impacted on the deliberations of the Commission since it was established.
This is one of the reasons for him extending the Commission until the end of next month when it will be required to submit its final report.
He says the extra time will enable the Commission to be more focussed on the cases that the State stands a real chance of successfully prosecuting, as well as for recovery proceedings.
