Asian mafia 'funding politicians'

PORT MORESBY - Papua New Guinea's most notorious criminal has alleged that triads are sponsoring political candidates for PNG's next elections.

In an hour-long videotaped confession, seen by AAP, William Kapris tells PNG police he was a bag man for a network of Asian crime gangs and senior government ministers who planned and funded his major robberies.

Kapris, who is facing trial for a series of high-profile bank robberies and a jail escape, alleges syndicates such as the triads are linked to most PNG government institutions and agencies and use PNG's infamous "rascals" for crimes.

He alleges Asian mafia are funding political candidates for PNG's next elections in 2012.

"There are five to 10 guys like me who are now working with Asians," Kapris said. "I would help the network and prepare for [the] 2012 election.

"We wouldn't remove the Prime Minister by gunpoint but through our own candidates, courtesy of the elections. Once they were in government, people like me will be free to do what I like."

In May last year violence and looting flared across PNG as local communities vented their anger over an influx of new Asian-run business they believe are fuelling widespread corruption.

At the time, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare dismissed them as "opportunists", while Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Abal conceded corruption, not just in immigration, was "paralysing PNG's systems".

Monash University's Professor James Chin said, "The Chinese gangs in PNG are not big enough to bankroll an entire party, like the ruling National Alliance, but they can fund individuals, mostly local politicians who can protect their small illegal business.

"There is no doubt about rising criminal elements in PNG from mainland China but they are not the big triad groups found in Hong Kong."

- AAP