PNG Inquiry team appeals to Solomon government for access in Moti probe

The Papua New Guinea’s Defence Force inquiry team has appealed to the Solomon Islands government to allow its members to go to Honiara to speak to those involved in the Julian Moti saga.

This comes after Solomons Foreign Minister Patterson Oti, conveyed to his PNG counterpart over the weekend that the inquiry board does not have jurisdiction extending to the Solomons, and that inquiry is an internal matter for PNG. Hence, the board inquiry team is not given access to undertake interviews in Honiara, originally planned for this week.

However Radio New Zealand International reports from Port Moresby quoted the inqury team as running out of time to complete its work. It says the Deputy Chairman of the inquiry, Tony Huai, has actually appealed to the Solomon Islands government to still allow them into Honiara on moral grounds because he reckons the Solomon Islands government owes PNG and its people an explanation as to how Julian Moti used a defence force aircraft to fly into Solomon Islands.

The report says members of the inquiry team did not want to sit in Honiara, but just wanted to interview nine people, including Julian Moti.

Source: RNZI