PNG probe into missing $830,000 from Wellington house sale

Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Peter O'Neill has ordered a probe into the whereabouts of $830,000 from the sale of its High Commissioner's house in Wellington. Photo / Marty Melville

The Papua New Guinea Government has launched an investigation into the whereabouts of $830,000 from the sale of its official High Commissioner's residence in Wellington.

The property, in Rama Crescent, Khandallah, was sold when senior PNG diplomat Bill Dihm was resident in the house.

Dihm has said that the money from the sale was remitted to the Department of Finance, but PNG Prime Minister Peter O'Neill has now asked for an audit and a probe into where the money is.

PNG Chief Secretary to Government Isaac Lupari told the Post-Courier that he would be sending an audit team to New Zealand.

"We need to get to the bottom of it, how it was sold and what has happened to the money. Mr Dihm was the High Commissioner at that time that the property was sold and he has maintained that the process was followed and that funds went through the system.

"I have written to Secretary for Finance to assign an auditor just to say or see how things have been done, so we must have some visibility over how we do our disposal of assets.

"You know we need to put to rest what happened to the money, the process, if complied with, and all these things."

The Post-Courier reported speculation that the sale of the house took place without the Government's knowledge and without proper documentation.

But Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Rimbink Pato told the Post-Courier that the proceeds from the sale are still parked in an account that authorities have identified.

"We are looking into it but it appears it's been sold and the current proceeds is still there. We don't think there was anything illegal and fishy," he told the Post-Courier.

"There is no reason to raise an alarm on this, the funds are still there I am told and I have asked the High Commissioner to produce to me and the government a report as soon as possible."

Since the sale, PNG's High Commissioner to New Zealand Francis Agwi has been staying in a rented property.