10 Mar 2010

PNG's Somare says he has not been served a court order

12:04 pm on 10 March 2010

The Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, Sir Michael Somare, says he has not been served a court order restraining him from implementing the findings and recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry into Finance.

The Post Courier newspaper reported earlier that two prominent lawyers had taken out a court injunction gagging the media from publishing anything about the report and preventing any implementation of its recommendations.

The paper says the lawyers, Paul Paraka and former Solicitor General Zachery Gelu, had alleged they'd been wrongly implicated in the report.

But Sir Michael says he'll proceed to implement the recommendations unless a court order is properly served on him.

He says the National Executive Council has already set up an independent team, headed by the Chief Secretary to Government, to implement the report's findings.

The Prime Minister says this team has already begun the process of amending legislation, and changing administrative processes in Government departments to reflect the report's concerns.