PNG slow in tackling corruption - NGO

8:08 am on 20 February 2015

An anti-corruption group in Papua New Guinea says that despite constant promises to tackle corruption, the government is dragging the chain on doing anything about it.

Last month, the National Court halted the cancellation of Special Agricultural Business Leases, or SABLs, which the Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill, ordered after a Commission of Inquiry found that most of the leases were obtained corruptly.

But Eddie Tanago, of the group Act Now, says before the court order, the government didn't actually do anything to cancel the leases, and in some cases, cancellation orders have sat on peoples desks for months.

Mr Tanago says the SABL saga is part of a range of moves that have harmed efforts to tackle corruption.

"If the government is talking about facing corruption then it should look it. The government has stopped funding offices that are fighting corruption, for example, the Taskforce Sweep office. So, you know, that goes to show how the government is responding to corruption and a clear example is SABLs. They're talking, but they're not doing anything."

Eddie Tanago of the group Act Now.