What has happened to the Chinese suspects in the Tan shooting?

There is a disturbing silence surrounding the case of the two Chinese men arrested for the attempted murder of business Jason Tan. Their case was due in court last Monday, the 29th, but things have been strangely quiet prompting rumours of political interference and corrupt deals.

The two Chinese accused of shooting Jason Tan

On January 2nd this year, Chinese businessman Jason Tan was shot at outside his home in Port Moresby.

A few minutes later two Chinese men, Chanjiang Gao and Xue Zhu Fu, were arrested at a police road block in the car seen at the scene of the shooting. They were in possession of guns, black face masks, gloves and their car had false number plates.

Both men were charged with attempted murder and Acting Assistant Police Commissioner. Awan Sete, siad the shooting confirmed the existence of Chinese Triads working in PNG and that the two men were hired assassins.

Despite the seemingly strong evidence against the two men and the fact that neither can speak English or Tok Pisin, one was unemployed and both probably in PNG illegally, magistrate Fred Tomo granted the two men bail on 12 February (a luxury rarely given to nationals when facing similar charges).

On March 15, we learned that police had still not interviewed the two men. The police claimed they could not find an interpreter and the Chinese Embassy was refusing to assist them. On that day, Tomo warned the police that he would dismiss the case against the two men if they did not complete their investigation.

But since then we have heard nothing and the silence is becoming deafening.

• Who was the registered owner of one of the guns the two Chinese were carryng when they were arrested?
• How did they get into PNG – who issued their visa’s?
• Why won’t the Chinese Embassy provide an interpreter?
• Who is paying for top lawyer Michael Wilson to defend the two men?
• And why do the police seem to be bungling their investigation?

Can Police Commissioner Baki please provide some answers?

Bail for Chinese murder suspects a disgrace – but not a surprise

The ugly face of corruption and the power and influence of the Chinese mafia was clearly on display in Port Moresby on Friday as Magistrate Fred Tomo granted bail to two Chinese men accussed of the shooting and attempted murder of businessman Jason Tan on January 2nd this year.

The two Chinese, Chanjiang Gao and Xue Zhufu, were released on bail of just K2,000 each despite the facts of the case which include that neither man can speak English or Tok Pisin, one is unemployed, both were arrested close to the scene of the attempted murder, both were in the vehicle from the crime scene, and they were in possession of guns, one of which was unlicensed, black face masks and gloves and false number plates.

The two Chinese suspects have been released

Clearly it is highly likely that both men will now disappear from sight and it is very unlikely that either will ever appear in court again. No wonder the National newspaper reported they were “beaming with happiness and making thumbs up signs” when coming out of court.

Both Magistrate Fred Tomo, who granted the two men bail despite the overwhelming evidence against them, the flight risk and the seriousness of the charges; and the police investigating the case who apparently have done little to advance the prosecution over the last six weeks should be forced to explain themselves.

When Mr Tan was shot at on January 2nd and the two Chinese arrested, we all expected that the Chinese mafia would ensure that justice would NOT be done. Mr Tomo and the police it seems have proved us all correct.

Corruption in PNG police rampant says long serving cop

By SIMON ERORO

“Yes, there is corruption rampant within our police force,” says John Mombre. He is a longtime policeman and like many of his colleagues, they continue to uphold the integrity of the profession they were trained for.

“Many of us (policemen) allow our personal emotions to make decisions which in many instances are unnecessary. 
“We arrest someone with charges of obstruction of duty…just because he or she wants to state his or her reasons, what occurs does not define the whole scenario”.

Corruption is a global phenomenon that is eating away at the very fabric of our society. 
Literally every policeman must be challenged to shirk the “who cares” attitude and fight the menace of corruption the way individuals who have successfully done, goaded on as they were by the courage of their convictions to avoid taking things lying down.
“As we deal with major corruption we must avoid petty corruption. As the saying goes, to cook a big fish well you must know how to cook a small one.”

Mr Mombre went on to say that 99 per cent of policemen who breach traffic rules in PNG do not get arrested.
He said this was for mere traffic rules like putting on your seat belts and blinkers to show the direction you are turning. “Anyone else does it…gets arrested,” he said.

He said many charges for obstruction of police duty are completely irrelevant. “Look at the drunkard policemen with beers packed in their cars driving around…no one can imagine whether they can be arrested by another cop. 
“At the road blocks…many are out there performing honestly while a few are taking the road blocks as a chance to try their luck in getting a toea or two,” this officer said.
“In fear of being locked up…many decide to pull out a few notes which eventually works out well. This is corruption,” he said.

Corruption plays a large role in bus tragedy

The Markham Valley bus tragedy left at least 38 people dead

Last Tuesday afternoon two buses collided on the Highlands Highway in the Markham Valley with tragic consequences. At least 37 people died at the scene of the accident at Ragiampum village, 130 kilometres from Lae and a further 3 victims were reported to have died later in hospital.

The two 25 seater buses crashed head-on when their drivers both swerved to avoid potholes in the road. Both buses were reported to have been travelling at more than 100km/hour at the time of the accident.

PNG roads are notoriously bad – most are unsealed and large potholes are common as funds earmarked for road maintenance are misused or stolen and what little maintennce does occur is often of poor quality.

Motor vehicle regulations are commonly ignored and dilapidated and unsafe vehicles can be seen everywhere. While drivers are rarely stopped for drunk driving or speeding, when they are most avoid prosecution by paying bribes to the police.

Dangerously overloaded vehicles are also a common sight and concerned leaders like former Deputy Governor of Simbu province and PMV (puclic motor vehicle) driver Garry Eremuge , complain many drivers are unqualified.

The tragic death toll from last week’s accident is just one more example of the terrible human price that is being paid for the widespread corruption that is thriving under the leadership of Prime Minister Michael Somare and his National Alliance government.

PNG’s top crim escapes in mass breakout

ILYA GRIDNEFF

AAP

Papua New Guinea’s most dangerous underworld figure has escaped from jail in a mass breakout of the country’s toughest criminals, only days before US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in the country.

William Kapris fled Port Moresby’s Bomana prison on Tuesday morning in a Toyota truck after one warder was taken hostage and a woman posing as a lawyer pulled a gun on guards. A total of 12 prisoners escaped.

Kapris has been accused of a string of high-profile bank robberies, rape, a plane hijacking and the alleged murder of a police officer.

Before being captured in 2008 he had been on the run for eight years after escaping police detention while convalescing at Port Moresby General Hospital.

Last year Australian Federal Police assisting PNG police with a kidnapping intercepted mobile telephone calls to Kapris, who allegedly masterminded the kidnapping from his Bomana cell.

Port Moresby police commander Fred Yakasa told PNG’s Post-Courier he feared a crime spree now “the country’s most wanted and dangerous criminals had escaped”.

“They are probably out with a serious mission,” he said. “Communities can anticipate spates of criminal activities.”

PNG is plagued by continual prison mass breakouts due to lax security, corruption, lack of political will and pay disputes involving warders.

But the latest breakout could not come at a worse time, with Clinton arriving in Port Moresby on Thursday as part of her South Pacific tour, which also takes in New Zealand and Australia.

An unnamed US embassy official told PNG’s National newspaper the country was rated a “high-security risk” due to poor border control. Officially, however, the detailed and tight security measures in place for the visit are described as “normal US diplomatic protocol”.

“If a schedule is leaked out, it will be immediately changed,” an official said.

Acting PNG police commissioner Tom Kulunga said more than 150 hard-core criminals had escaped from PNG jails in the past 12 months, including 40 from Bomana last October.

Earlier this month business leader Jason Tan was shot outside his home several weeks after PNG’s anti-corruption boss, Chronox Manek, survived a similar murder attempt.

Senior cop says no bribes – not this time anyway!

A senior police officer investigating the attempted murder of businessman Julian Tan in Port Moresby has said that he will not tolerate any bribes. Anyone caught offering bribes will be arrested and charged, he says.

The officer is on the public record saying “the whole world is focused on this case… so we will not tolerate bribes”.

While it is encouraging to hear one senior officer saying he will not tolerate bribes in this high profile case what do his statements tell us about the state of our police force and criminal justice system.

Clearly the bribing of police officers is common practice – and most if not all police officers are either involved in the practice or are complicit through their silence when they see it happen.

The fact that police officers are too scared, either for their physical security or loss of their job, to speak out when they see fellow officers accepting bribes means that there must be a culture of corruption that reaches to the very top of our police force.

Why does a senior investigating officer have to insist on anonymity when he says he will not tolerate bribes in a high profile case? It is because he does not feel he has the support of his superior officers. Why is Garry Baki, the Police Commissioner, not supporting this officer? Why has he not come out and said that bribes will not be tolerated?

Many other questions in the Julian Tan case still remain unanswered.

Who is the businessman who is the registered owner of one of the firearms found in possession of the arrested suspects?

How and when did the suspects enter PNG and what travel documents did they have?

How did one of the men have a work permit when he can neither speak nor understand English or tok pisin?

How big was “the large” quantity of foreign currencies found in their guesthouse rooms?

The attempted murder of Julian Tan tells us more about the corruption in our police force and the complicity of our politicians than it does about the dangers of living in Port Moresby.

Customs raid uncovers guns – but police look guilty

A successful PNG Customs operation in the Highlands has netted seven illegal firearms and 400 rounds of ammunition held by several prominent businessmen, according to Customs Commissioner Gary Juffa.

The weapons included an MP5 machine gun that was found in the possession of a ‘top Asian’. The machine gun was a police issue weapon and the businessman was also found to be in possession of a police beret and a police tear gas cannister.

Strangely though, despite the weapons being seized by the Customs team led by the Commissioner, none of the businessmen have been charged by police and the ‘top Asian’ has not even been named.

Customs insiders say these seizures are only the tip of the iceberg where foreign business men involved in people smuggling and other illegal activities are acting in collusion with corrupt police officers who supply them with police issue weapons and protection services.

Police Commissioner, Garry Baki, needs to come out and tell the people of PNG the name of the ‘top Asian’; explain how he came to be in possession of a police issue machine gun; and explain what action is being taken against everyone involved.

We should not forget that the police are PUBLIC servants. It is the PUBLIC they should be protecting and it is the police’s responsibility to be open and honest. Come on Mr Baki, tell us what is going on here – or do you condone the actions of the police in corruptly colluding with foreign businessmen and providing them with police weapons?

The customs operation also uncovered four illegal immigrants of Chinese descent who will now be deported – if proper procedures are followed .

Chinese mafia and corrupt police cripple PNG – The Age, 2005

This is what Mark Forbes wrote in The Age back in February 2005. There is nothing to suggest anything has gotten better since then (and is Chief Superintendent Sam Bonner still at work?)….

Chinese mafia groups have infiltrated and corrupted the highest levels of Papua New Guinea’s police force, crippling the struggling nation’s attempts to tackle its law-and-order crisis and posing a potential national security threat to Australia.

An Age investigation has uncovered alleged links between 16 of PNG’s most senior police and Asian criminals implicated in people-smuggling, money-laundering, prostitution, illegal gambling, fraud and theft. Australian authorities fear that PNG’s police are so compromised that the country could be used as a staging post to traffic people into Australia.

With a $1.1 billion Howard Government program to restore law and order in PNG under way – more than 100 Australian police are patrolling trouble spots – Australian intelligence has nominated Asian gangs as the biggest threat to stability.

Details of a secret PNG police investigation, Corruption and Illegal Activities Within the Police Force, have been obtained by The Age. The report names 15 senior officers, from inspectors to commissioners, allegedly involved with Asian crime figures.

PNG Police Minister Bire Kimisopa refused to discuss the report’s details but acknowledged that his country faced an organised crime crisis that implicated senior police. “It goes right to the top,” he said.

“Chinese mafia have bought off officials throughout the system . . . they are operating illegal businesses, they are siphoning money out, corrupting Government officials, colluding with police and making attempts to kill officials as well.”

The commander of the Australian police in PNG, Barry Turner, backed the assessment. “There is a significant, growing problem with Asian organised crime entities in Port Moresby and PNG,” he said.

He said Australian officers planned a crackdown on the gangs, in concert with PNG police. “We are working together to try and address these issues, we have bolstered the transnational crime team and will be putting extra staff into internal affairs.”

Australian officials fear the problem could affect Australia. The head of the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Professor Hugh White, said organised crime in PNG could be a “conduit into Australia for a range of activities, including people-smuggling and drug-trafficking”.

The gangs have established themselves in the past five years, taking advantage of corruption and lax law enforcement. They have begun recruiting Port Moresby’s notorious raskol gangs – heavily armed, disaffected young men – to commit armed robberies, thefts and assaults, senior police sources confirmed.

The police report calls for urgent investigations into 55 allegations of corruption or misconduct, in the interests of the police concerned and to protect the integrity of the force.

Sources have also identified a corrupt senior policeman, not included in the report, who has intervened to disrupt investigations into organised crime figures twice this year.

The report alleges that one of PNG’s most senior officers received $10,000 from an Asian business figure and has personally issued firearms licences in breach of a moratorium. The report says that the force’s legal officer, Chief Superintendent Sam Bonner, attempted to pervert the course of justice by interfering with an investigation into illegal gambling last year.

Mr Bonner tried to halt a raid on a venue housing pokie-like “horse-racing machines” owned by alleged crime figure Albert Khoo. The report claims he has at least four police on his payroll.

The gangs are known to threaten and intimidate police and others. National Gaming Board chairman Nat Koleala told The Age that gangs had placed a $700,000 contract on his head for speaking out against illegal gaming. After several bomb threats, a hand grenade was thrown at the house of his registrar.

A Gaming Board investigation into three companies running illegal venues had uncovered relatives and wives of senior policemen on the books, he said.

Tan shooting – who let these men into PNG?

Changjiang Gao and Xue Zhufu have been charged with attempted murder

Changjiang Gao and Xue Zhufu, both from Fujan province in China, have been charged with the attempted murder of businessman Jason Tan in Port Moresby.

Neither man can speak English or tok pisin but police are not saying how the men came to be living in PNG.

Did these men have PNG passports? Did they have valid visas? Who issued their travel documents and when and where did they enter the country? Which officials were involved in allowing these men to be here? Who was the registered owner of one of the semi-automatic guns used in the attempted murder?

The public has the right to know the answers to these questions. If the police do not provide the answers then we will know the reason – corruption.

Chinese arrested for attempted murder – but who is to blame?

Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for the attempted murder of businessman Jasan Tan. Both men are from Fujan province. According to police, one was working in a nightclub the other was unemployed. Neither can speak any English or tok pisin.

Changjiang Gao, aged 36, and Xue Zhufo, 38, were in possession of two semi-automatic hand guns when they were arrested.

One of the handguns was a registered firearm but police have not revealed the identity of the owner.

Police have also not revealed how the two men came to be in PNG or how long they have been living here  – but the fact that one of them is reported to have been working in a nightclub suggests they are long-term residents and not temporary visitors.

Acting Assistant Police Commissioner, Awan Sete, has said the attempted murder confirms the existence of Asian triads operating in PNG and that criminals are being hired as assassins.

But it would be wrong of us to just blame this shocking crime on the Chinese triads.

How do these people get into PNG? How do they manage to remain here and operate their illegal businesses? How do they buy property and get access to guns?

It seems the answers are obvious – Chinese triads and gang members are living and operating in PNG because they bribe our politicians, our officials and the police.

Given this background of corruption can we really expect to see these two suspects tried in court and serving long prison sentences?

The fact that the police are already covering up key information – like who was the registered owner of one of the guns, who issued these men with their visas etc – means that a cynical public are already expecting the worst. How long will it be before these men are set free and who will be responsible?