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Papua New Guinea's MP charged with armed robbery and fraud.

Xinhua, February 14, 2017 Adjust font size:

Papua New Guinea Member of Parliament Wera Mori is out on bail Tuesday after being charged with a number of serious offences in Port Moresby, following a joint investigation by local police and the Ombudsman Commission dating back to 2015.

The offences Mori is charged with include two counts of official corruption, armed robbery, obstruction of police duties, deprivation of liberty, preventing the course of justice, break and enter, theft and causing disaffection within the police force.

But the MP from Chuave has denounced the charges, which were laid on Saturday.

"I am a victim of a malicious cover-up scam involving a corrupt policeman who is closely associated to the former Chauve MP Jim Nomane," he told the Pacific Islands News Association.

The scandal comes just two weeks after Prime Minister Peter O'Neill ordered an investigation into a fraudulent land deal allegedly involving two of his most senior ministers.

Defence Minister Fabian Pok stands accused of using government funding from Kumul Consolidated Holdings to pay Public Enterprises Minister, William Duma and his associated company 19 million U.S. dollars to acquire his private land in order to relocate a naval base.

"The land is 10 kilometres inland from the sea, so how do you build a naval base ten kilometres inland in the bush." Papua New Guinea opposition leader Ben Micah told the Australian Broadcasting Company.

Prime Minister O'Neill in recent years has also faced alleged corruption scandals, in July 2016, he survived a motion of no confidence put forward by the parliament. Enditem.