PM Natapei Puts Pressure On Gosh Probe

Vanuatu's government says it will press for deeper investigations into the circumstances in which a shady Asian businessman was given what was purported to be an authority to handle a US$300 million issue of government bonds.

Vanuatu's Police Special Investigation Unit (SIU) has received a "missing document" that throws more light on a deal that cost politician Barak Sope his job as prime minister and a brief spell in jail.

While a senior police officer says SIU is not inclined to probe the matter more deeply, pressure from the Prime Minister's Office has led to a renewal of police inquiries.

The document carries the signatures of senior politicians and is part of a document for an arrangement that would have provided Amendra Nath Gosh, a Thai national, with Vanuatu Reserve Bank bonds equivalent to 35,000 million Vatu, or US$300 million.

The agreement sets out terms and conditions as to how the Reserve Bank bonds would be issued and managed entirely by Gosh.

In a response to a complaint filed by a local lawyer, Superintendent Vake Rakau, of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), stated that after comparing one copy of the agreement with a complete copy received from the complainant, "we have identified that the last page, which contains the signatures of the witnesses, was missing."

The missing page carries the signatures of the former Prime Minister Barak Sope, the current deputy Prime Minister Serge Vohor, another former prime minister, Maxime Carlot Korman, and Dinh Van Than, a former political party chief and one of Vanuatu's most prominent businessmen.

Gosh was appointed by the Sope government as Honorary Consul General for Vanuatu. He presented the government with what he claimed was a giant ruby, weighing 87 kilogrammes and worth US$175 million, which he said could be used as a loan collateral.

The document adds a little more light on what happened behind closed doors and the real motive for Gosh's interest in a small country with a struggling economy.

Last year, on charges stemming from his relationship with Gosh, Sope was convicted and sentenced on two counts of forgery involving two separate government guarantees for US$5 million and US$18 million. He was soon controversially pardoned by the head of state, President John Bani, after serving only three months of a three-year jail term.

A legal source said the agreement was signed by political leaders in their capacity as political party presidents and not officially as government leaders. Apart from Than, they should have signed the deal as government leaders as they were engaging the State and its assets , the source said. Than's signature raises the question of why he was allowed to sign for a high risk state investment since he was not even an elected Member of Parliament.

Sope briefly confirmed the registration of a company that was to do business with Gosh.

Several attempts to obtain filed company documents were blocked by Vanuatu's offshore.

Superintendent Rakau said while the SIU had obtained the missing document, "following our inquiries to the matter, we have come to the conclusion that we are not going to proceed any further with the investigations against the defendants."

Rakau said the Public Prosecutor's Office would not investigate further unless it was found that the bonds had been issued.

The high cost of the investigation was another factor.

However, Nicholas Miroum, a Papua New Guinea lawyer who recently took over as Vanuatu's Public Prosecutor, contradicted SIU.

In reply to an inquiry from a Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation journalist, he said a search of the relevant files and correspondence had not yielded any record of such an advice having been given to SIU.

Asked if it had advised the SIU to halt the investigation, the State Law Office through Sampson Endehpa, another Papua New Guinean lawyer who is currently Vanuatu's Attorney General, said that under the State Law Act, he was empowered only to advise the Government.

The office of Prime Minister Edward Natapei said that if need be, the Government will seek assistance for a Œdeeper investigation.

In a written response to an inquiry from the local media, rime Minister's Private Secretary said those implicated had to be dealt with in accordance with the existing laws. The Prime Minister has asked the Prosecutor's Office to examine the possibility of further prosecutions, the Private Secretary said.

The Prosecutor's Office, in response to other media inquiries, said charges would be laid if there was a reasonable prospect of convictions.

According to the agreement obtained by Gosh, he was to have the "sole right" to manage the bonds held in his name by Bangkok Bank Limited, Macquarie Bank Limited, or Standard Chartered Bank Limited.

The declaration from the Prime Minister's Office could be a serious blow for the current Deputy Prime Minister, Serge Vohor, and his leadership of the Union of Moderate Parties (UMP) and a setback for a plan to merge the UMP and Sope's Melanesian Progressive Party to become Pan Melanesian Congress. It leaves Natapei with a need to find a reliable alternative coalition partner to enable him to avoid his government being toppled by a parliamentary vote-of-no-confidence.