TOKYO (AP) — Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crew members crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during a nighttime training flight after possibly colliding with each other, the country’s defense minister said Sunday. One crew member who had been recovered from the waters was later pronounced dead, while rescuers searched for seven others who were still missing.
The two SH-60K choppers from the Maritime Self-Defense Force were carrying four crew each and lost contact late Saturday near Torishima island about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters
The cause of the crash was not immediately known, but officials believe the two helicopters “highly likely” collided with each other before crashing into the water, Kihara said.
He added his ministry will suspend training flights for all SH-60s for now.
The navy chief of staff, Adm. Ryo Sakai, said the trainings will be suspended until the accident’s cause is determined and preventive measures are adopted.
Rescuers have recovered a flight data recorder, a blade from each helicopter, and fragments believed to be from both choppers in the same area, signs that the two SH-60Ks were flying close to each other, Kihara said. Officials will analyze the flight data to try to determine what led to the crash.
Search and rescue efforts for the missing crew were expanded Sunday, with the MSDF and Air Self-Defense Force together deploying 12 warships and seven aircraft. Japan Coast Guard patrol boats and aircraft also joined the operation.
The helicopters, twin-engine, multi-mission aircraft developed by Sikorsky and known as Seahawks, were modified and produced in Japan by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. They were on nighttime anti-submarine training in the waters, Kihara said. One lost contact at 10:38 p.m. (1338 GMT) and sent an automatic emergency signal a minute later. They lost contact about 270 kilometers (150 nautical miles) east of Torishima island.
Only one distress call was heard — another sign the two helicopters were near the same place, because their signals use the same frequency and could not be differentiated, Kihara said.
One helicopter belonged to an air base in Nagasaki, and the other to a base in Tokushima prefecture.
The SH-60K aircraft is usually deployed on destroyers for anti-submarine warfare, but is also used for search and rescue and other missions. Japan has about 70 of the modified helicopters.
Saturday’s training only involved the Japanese navy and was not part of a multinational exercise, defense officials said. They said no foreign aircraft or warships were spotted in the area.
Japan, under its 2022 security strategy, has been accelerating its military buildup and fortifying deterrence in the southwestern Japanese islands in the Pacific and East China Sea to counter threats from China’s increasingly assertive military activities. Japan in recent years has conducted its own extensive naval exercises as well as joint drills with its ally the United States and other partners.
The navy chief of staff said Saturday’s training was part of routine anti-submarine warfare drills involving MSDF warships, submarines and Seahawks.
The crash comes a year after a Ground Self-Defense Force UH-60 Blackhawk crashed off the southwestern Japanese island of Miyako, due to an engine output problem known as “rollback,” leaving all 10 crew members dead, which shocked the nation. In 2017, a Japanese navy SH-60J, an earlier generation Seahawk, crashed during a nighttime flight training off Aomori due to human error.
Saturday’s crash and possible collision also recalled a July 2021 nighttime training off the southern island of Amamioshima, where two SH-60s had a minor collision, both suffering blade damage, but causing no injuries.
Following that collision, the MSDF introduced a set of preventive measures. Sakai said Saturday’s crash could have been prevented if all those measures were adequately followed.
In the U.S., a fatal crash of a MH-60S Seahawk during training off California in 2021 was attributed to mechanical failure from unsuspected damage during maintenance, according to the Navy.
Japan’s NHK public television said no weather advisories were issued in the area at the time of Saturday’s crash.
HONG KONG (AP) — Apple said it had removed Meta’s WhatsApp messaging app and its Threads social media app from the App Store in China to comply with orders from Chinese authorities.
The apps were removed from the store on Friday after Chinese officials cited unspecified national security concerns.
Their removal comes amid elevated tensions between the U.S. and China over trade, technology and national security.
The U.S. has threatened to ban TikTok over national security concerns. But while TikTok, owned by Chinese technology firm ByteDance, is used by millions in the U.S., apps like WhatsApp and Threads are not commonly used in China.
Instead, the messaging app WeChat, owned by Chinese company Tencent, reigns supreme.
Other Meta apps, including Facebook, Instagram and Messenger remained available for download, although use of such foreign apps is blocked in China due to its “Great Firewall” network of filters that restrict use of foreign websites such as Google and Facebook.
“The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered the removal of these apps from the China storefront based on their national security concerns,” Apple said in a statement.
“We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree,” Apple said. A spokesman for Meta referred to “Apple for comment.”
Apple, previously the world’s top smartphone maker, recently lost the top spot to Korean rival Samsung Electronics. The U.S. firm has run into headwinds in China, one of its top three markets, with sales slumping after Chinese government agencies and employees of state-owned companies were ordered not to bring Apple devices to work.
Apple has been diversifying its manufacturing bases outside China.
Its CEO Tim Cook has been visiting Southeast Asia this week, traveling to Hanoi and Jakarta before wrapping up his travels in Singapore. On Friday he met with Singapore’s deputy prime minister, Lawrence Wong, where they “discussed the partnership between Singapore and Apple, and Apple’s continued commitment to doing business in Singapore.”
Apple pledged to invest over $250 million to expand its campus in the city-state.
Earlier this week, Cook met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Hanoi, pledging to increase spending on Vietnamese suppliers.
He also met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo. Cook later told reporters that they talked about Widodo’s desire to promote manufacturing in Indonesia, and said that this was something that Apple would “look at”.
MANADO, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities closed an airport and residents left homes near an erupting volcano Thursday due to the dangers of spreading ash, falling rocks, hot volcanic clouds and the possibility of a tsunami.
Mount Ruang on the northern side of Sulawesi Island had at least five large eruptions Wednesday, causing the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation to issue its highest-level alert, indicating an active eruption.
The crater emitted white-gray smoke continuously during the day Thursday, reaching more than 500 meters (1,600 feet) above the peak.
People have been ordered to stay at least 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from the 725-meter (2,378 foot) mountain. More than 11,000 people live in the affected area and were told to leave. At least 800 have done so.
An international airport in Manado city was temporarily closed Thursday as volcanic ash was spewed into the air.
“We have to close flight operations at Sam Ratulangi Airport due to the spread of volcanic ash, which could endanger flight safety,” said Ambar Suryoko, head of the regional airport authority.
Eruptions Wednesday evening spewed volcanic ash approximately 70,000 feet into the atmosphere, according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology’s Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre. The bureau said in a statement Thursday it was tracking and forecasting the ash dispersion.
Indonesia’s volcanology center noted the risks from the volcanic eruption include the possibility that part of the volcano could collapse into the sea and cause a tsunami. In December 2018, Indonesia’s Anak Krakatau volcano island erupted and collapsed, losing around 3/4 its volume and triggering a powerful tsunami that killed more than 400 people. An 1871 eruption at Mount Ruang also triggered a tsunami.
Tagulandang Island, east of the Ruang volcano, could be at risk if a collapse occurred. Its residents were among those being told to evacuate.
“People who live in the Tagulandang Island area and are within a 6-kilometer radius must be immediately evacuated to a safe place outside the 6-kilometer radius,” Abdul Muhari, spokesperson of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said Thursday.
“And especially those who live near the coast should be aware of the potential for incandescent rocks to erupt, hot clouds and tsunami waves that could be triggered by the collapse of a volcanic body into the sea.”
The agency said residents will be relocated to Manado, the nearest city, on Sulawesi island — a six-hour journey by boat.
Indonesia, an archipelago of 270 million people, has 120 active volcanoes. It is prone to volcanic activity because it sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean.
By GRACEY WAKARY and EDNA TARIGAN Associated Press & AP writer Rod McGuirk contributed from Sydney.
The Prime Minister of Solomon Islands has recently gone on a home-building spree, constructing eight valuable new houses in and around the capital city of Honiara.
KEY POINTS:
Despite earning a modest salary, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has in recent years rapidly expanded his real estate holdings, building at least eight new houses on three sites in and around Honiara.
Real estate experts said the houses would have cost at least $1.7 million to build, and perhaps as much as $3.2 million.
Financial experts said the value of the houses appears out of proportion with Sogavare’s known income. Some of the construction appears to have been funded by three separate mortgages granted on a single day in 2018, worth a total of over 7 million Solomon Islands dollars (over $900,000). Financial experts said Sogavare’s known income at the time was too low to typically be granted such loans — raising questions about how he obtained them.
By Aubrey Belford (OCCRP), Dan McGarry (OCCRP), Ofani Eremae (In-Depth Solomons), Charley Piringi (In-Depth Solomons), Gina Maka’a (In-Depth Solomons), and Ronald Toito’ona (In-Depth Solomons)
Manasseh Sogavare, the four-time prime minister of Solomon Islands, speaks proudly of his humble origins as a school dropout who once earned a living cleaning toilets and making tea for British colonial officials.
The 69-year-old premier is modestly paid by the standard of world leaders, even after he received a 39-percent pay bump this month that raised his annual salary to 428,560 Solomon Islands dollars, or SBD (around US$50,000).
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. [[Photo credit: Dan McGarry/OCCRP]]
That relatively low paycheck, however, hasn’t stopped Sogavare and his wife, Emmy, from securing large loans and massively increasing their real estate wealth over the past several years, an investigation by OCCRP and In-Depth Solomons has found.
The couple have builtat least eight new houses on land they already owned in and around the capital, Honiara, reporters found. The construction costs are estimated to run as high as several million U.S. dollars.
One of the houses, a large, multi-story home in the hillside suburb of Tasahe, serves as the couple’s current residence. Other holdings include what are, by local standards, high-end rental properties in the neighborhoods of Lungga and Henderson, located near the Honiara airport.
[[Credit: Edin Pašović/OCCRP]]
Altogether, the houses are believed to have cost the Sogavares between SBD 14 million and SBD 26 million ($1.7 million and $3.2 million) to build, according to local property appraisers who reviewed land and mortgage records, satellite images, and drone photos provided by reporters. The estimates do not include additional costs, such as interior furnishings or landscaping.
The value of the properties appears out of proportion with Sogavare’s known earnings. The size and scale of the houses themselves also stand in stark contrast to the living conditions of most Honiara residents, who pay sky-high prices to live in often ramshackle and overcrowded housing.
With Sogavare seeking to secure a fifth prime ministerial term in key elections on April 17, anti-corruption experts say his fast-growing real estate portfolio — as well as the large loans he obtained to finance it — deserves closer scrutiny.
“He needs to explain to the people: Where did he get all this money from?” said Ruth Liloqula, who heads the Solomon Islands chapter of Transparency International.
Sogavare did not respond to questions from OCCRP and In-Depth Solomons.
“On a PM’s Salary? Definitely Not”
Located at the end of a secluded road overlooking the Ironbottom Sound, the Sogavares’ Tasahe home is still not widely known to the public.
The Tasahe property. [[Photo credit: Aubrey Belford/OCCRP]]
The house is situated on over 1,200 square meters of state land leased by the prime minister and his wife in 2007 but left empty for about a decade. While it’s not clear precisely when construction began, satellite imagery shows that the land went from being completely vacant in early 2017 to containing a completed structure by May 2019.
While the state-owned land it stands on cost relatively little, property valuers estimate the house itself cost between SBD 6 million and 10 million ($720,000 and $1.2 million) to build.
According to neighbors and real estate agents, the home was initially rented out to tenants. Financial records obtained by reporters show that by 2020, the Sogavares were receiving SBD 35,000 ($4,130) a month in rent.
The couple eventually moved into the home themselves after their existing residence — a plot of land in Lungga containing two houses — was damaged after it was targeted in 2021 by rioters opposed to Sogavare’s government. One house was ransacked in the incident; the other was burned to the ground.
When the Sogavares moved to Tasahe, construction crews descended on the Lungga site, demolishing the remaining structures and rapidly building three large new homes in their place.
The three newly constructed homes on the Lungga site. [[Photo Credit: Aubrey Belford/OCCRP]]
The Sogavares have also built homes at their Henderson property, which contained just one small house when they purchased the land in 2015.
Satellite images and drone photos show the plot being developed in stages, with two large houses erected sometime between early 2017 and early 2019. By April 2020, a third house had appeared, and a fourth smaller structure was added sometime in 2023. All four houses appear to be rental properties.
The Henderson property. [[Photo credit: Aubrey Belford/OCCRP]]
Accustomed to the usually sleepy pace of work in Solomon Islands, neighbors told reporters that they were stunned at the speed with which the new houses were built.
“Those of us living around here were so surprised to see three buildings completed in just less than a year, something a Solomon Islander normally couldn’t do,” said Rose Kairi, who watched the Lungga construction work from her home nearby.
Kairi said she saw trucks driven by what appeared to be Chinese workers drop construction materials at the site. Those carrying out the construction were mostly locals, she said.
Rick Houenipwela, himself a former prime minister who served directly before Sogavare’s most recent term, also lives close to the three new houses in Lungga.
Houenipwela’s own home is a sprawling structure cobbled together from typical local construction materials like gyprock, wood, and concrete blocks. He told reporters his own renovations had taken place at a pace typical of Solomon Islands: in fits and starts.
The Sogavares, he said, appeared to suffer from neither delays nor a shortage of money.
“The machines actually were just stationed there… Sometimes they would have work at night,” Houenipwela said.
“It was really quick by our standards,” he added. “And the standard definitely is high, good work. The material, of course, is of quality standard.”
While prime minister, Houenipwela drew on official income and benefits similar to Sogavare’s. He told reporters he had struggled to pay for his own home improvements, and did not understand how his successor could afford his own far more ambitious construction projects.
“On a PM’s salary? Definitely not.”
A History of Real Estate Controversies
This is not the first time the Sogavares’ real estate dealings have come into question.
In 2007, during Manasseh Sogavare’s second prime ministerial term, the couple raised eyebrows with the original purchase of the Lungga property.
The sale was made with the help of a SBD 2.5 million (about $350,000) mortgage from Australia’s ANZ bank — supported by a letter from the Embassy of Taiwan, in which the country’s government guaranteed that it would rent the property. Sogavare was a staunch ally of Taiwan at the time.
The loan and the Lungga purchase drew criticism from lawmakers, who accused him of exploiting his relationship with a foreign government for personal gain.
Sogavare defended himself, saying: “I do not see any law in this country that says once you become a prime minister you are not allowed to go to the bank and get a loan.”
“Taiwan came and said it is going to have a long term tenancy agreement with us,” he added. “Taiwan wanted to rent those two houses. What is wrong with that?”
Members of parliament, including those within his own governing majority, saw it differently. Sogavare was removed in a vote of no confidence later that year, in part due to the uproar over the land deal.
Another controversy swirled with the purchase of the Henderson land in 2015, after Sogavare had returned to serve a third term as prime minister. He and his wife bought the land, which satellite images at the time showed to contain a small dwelling, for SBD 1.5 million (about $190,000).
Questioned in parliament, Sogavare said he had obtained another loan to purchase the Henderson plot. “I wish I had 1.5 million,” Sogavare said at the time.
Land registry documents typically list all mortgages taken out against a property. However, reporters were unable to find any record there showing that Sogavare took out such a loan for Henderson at the time.
An Expensive Building Boom
While the land-purchase deals drew concerns, it has been the past six years that have seen the most dramatic expansion in the Sogavares’ real estate wealth.
In 2018, Sogavare’s lending relationship with Australia’s ANZ Bank — which had provided the mortgage for the Lungga purchase, as well as other smaller loans — ended for unclear reasons. He moved his business across to the French-owned BRED Bank, which on a single day in 2018 granted the politician and his wife three separate, and much larger mortgages worth SBD 7,161,590 ($916,688).
The loans were secured against the properties the couple had acquired in 2007 and 2015, as well as an older, more modest family home in the neighborhood of Vura.
The Vura property. [[Photo credit: Dan McGarry/OCCRP]]
There was just one problem, according to financial experts: The couple likely would not have been able to afford the loans at the time.
Manasseh Sogavare, despite his political longevity, has never served consecutive posts as prime minister in the rough-and-tumble world of Solomon Island politics. At the time BRED agreed to grant him the loans, he was serving as deputy prime minister, earning an annual government salary of just SBD 169,230 (around US$21,000), as well as a housing allowance of up to SBD 240,000 a year (roughly $30,000).
Nor did the couple have any other substantial sources of income. Company registry documents show the Sogavares had no declared business interests at the time.
That would have left the couple far short of the roughly SBD 824,000 (about $104,000) in mortgage repayments they would have owed each year (if calculated according to the central bank’s lending rate at the time, 10.7 percent, and paid out over BRED Solomon’s maximum available term of 25 years.)
Financial experts interviewed by OCCRP and In-Depth Solomons said such a shortfall would normally prompt a bank to turn the Sogavares away.
“Based on Sogavare’s income as deputy PM, it doesn’t look like that he’d be able to service that original loan just on his income alone,” said Matt Fehon, a Sydney-based forensic accountant. “There would have to be other sources.”
By 2019, Manasseh Sogavare had returned to the prime ministerial post for his current fourth term, providing a small boost to his salary. Emmy Sogavare soon launched a cafe business that made a modest income. Financial records show the couple also began renting out their former home in Vura for SBD 11,000 ($1,340) a month.
But even with those gains, the Sogavares’ earnings would still have been swallowed by mortgage payments.
[[Photo credit: Edin Pašović/OCCRP]]
Fehon said BRED Bank may have given the Sogavares a reduced interest rate or allowed them to defer repayments while they built their rental properties. The Sogavares may have also had a third party guaranteeing their loan, he said.
But such special treatment would be risky, and most international banks would have avoided issuing the loans altogether, Fehon said.
“The fact that the individuals are politically exposed persons, you’d want to do additional due diligence,” he said.
“The bank would need to look at the source of those funds, any additional funds, and make sufficient inquiries to satisfy themselves that they’re not illegal payments,” he said.
Such questions are more urgent given Sogavare’s past admission that he received a loan guarantee from Taiwan. While he was previously a staunch advocate of the self-governing island’s interests, he dramatically reversed course in his latest term by switching Solomon Islands’ diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China and signing a secretive security deal with Beijing.
The move has rattled the West and spurred an uptick in Chinese investment in Solomon Islands. China’s government also makes controversial payments known as “constituency development funds” to both Sogavare and his allies in parliament. The 2021 riots that damaged the couple’s Lungga property was driven in part by public anger over Sogavare’s switch in allegiance from Taiwan to China.
Graffiti on a building being reconstructed following the 2021 Honiara riots. [[Photo credit: Dan McGarry]]
Anti-corruption experts say that both Sogavare and BRED Bank should be transparent about how the loans were secured.
“Based on what you’ve outlined by way of the valuations, and his earning capacity, it appears he’s got a large loan and undertaken an expensive construction project that’s beyond his means,” forensic accountant Fehon said.
BRED Bank declined to comment.
“We are not allowed to comment on confidential information regarding our clients,” bank spokeswoman Leila Salimi said.
Making Up the Difference
While questions remain about the Sogavares’ ability to repay the mortgages, property valuers say the loans would not even have been enough to cover the ambitious construction spree the couple would soon embark on.
If estimates from local land valuers on the cost of construction are correct, the roughly SBD 7 million from BRED would cover only half, or even less, of the total construction costs.
[[Photo credit: Edin Pašović/OCCRP]]
Reporters were unable to find any indication on public land documents showing fresh loans to help cover the construction of the three recently constructed Lungga homes, which according to valuers’ estimates, likely cost a total of SBD 4 million to SBD 8 million (about $470,000 to $940,000) to build.
However, part of the cost appears to have been covered by an insurance payout of SBD 2 million (around $235,000), according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
And even though the Sogavares may have lacked the initial funds to pay for their construction and loans, that would no longer be the case. With the homes complete, they can now bring in a handsome rental income that far outstrips the prime minister’s official salary.
Neighbors and real estate agents told reporters that at least some of the couple’s new homes in Lungga and Henderson are currently being rented out. Reporters were unable to learn how much these tenants are paying, but financial records from the previous rentals of two houses owned by the Sogavares, as well as estimates from local real estate agents, suggest that the couple could be earning well over SBD 100,000 ($11,800) a month in rent.
A disturbing video has emerged on social media, and going viral depicting the brutal torture and eventual death of a West Papuan man at the hands of his captors. The victim, whose crime remains unknown, was brutally beaten while bound and confined within a 44-gallon drum, leaving him with no chance of escape from his tragic fate.
Frank Makanuey, a Papua New Guinean citizen of West Papuan descent, has voiced his outrage and concern over the treatment of indigenous people by Indonesian soldiers.
He highlights that this atrocity and incident is in violation of the New York Agreement, an agreement signed over 69 years ago in secrecy between the US, the Netherlands, and Indonesia, paving the way for the occupation of West Papua in 1963. Makanuey said the original intent and purpose of the New York Agreement is not to exact human rights abuses.
Frank Makanuey
Mr. Makanuey condemns this barbaric act as a crime against humanity, yet laments the world’s indifference towards the atrocities faced by the indigenous population of West Papua in their struggle for freedom.
The footage, showing Indonesian soldiers inhumanely assaulting an unarmed man trapped in a drum, serves as a damning indictment of the ongoing crimes against humanity in the region.
Blurred video shows the barbaric torture of the man by Indonesian soldiers.
Since the implementation of the New York Agreement and Indonesia’s prolonged dominion and occupation over West Papua, countless such atrocities have unfolded, claiming the lives of thousands of indigenous Melanesian individuals.
Mr. Makanuey said further that crimes against humanity have long been outlawed by the United Nations, following the atrocities of World War II.
He calls for an immediate cessation of aggression against the indigenous people of West Papua, asserting that their right to self-determination supersedes Indonesia’s domestic affairs and warrants intervention by the United Nations.
As a respected West Papuan community leader, Mr. Makanuey urges the United Nations General Assembly to take decisive action and grant independence to the Melanesian people of West Papua, in accordance with its Human Rights Charter that was ratified in 1948.
PAPUA New Guinea’s Immigration Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, John Rosso, has revealed that the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority office is investigating how Mei Lin, also known as ‘Gigi’, a China-born businesswoman accused of orchestrating a methamphetamine “black flight” in March last year, was able to obtain her PNG citizenship.
This follows the publication of an investigative news article by Inside PNG and partner OCCRP (Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project) on the 26th of January this year that revealed Mei Lin appeared to have falsified key parts of her citizenship application.
Mei Lin arrested in Brisbane. [[Photo credit: Australian Federal Police]]
Mei Lin, 41, was charged in Brisbane in January by the Australian Federal Police for allegedly helping to facilitate the smuggling of 71.5kg of methamphetamine (or crystal meth) with a street value of over K33million from PNG to Australia last year by light plane; in what police have argued was intended to be the first of a series of smuggling attempts.
According to the PNG Police and the Court, the dangerous drug was packed in over 80 small plastic bags and was transported to Bulolo Airstrip and was transported by air on a black-flight to Australia. Mei Lin has pleaded not guilty, before the Court in Brisbane.
Inside PNG and international partner OCCRP, in January revealed in an investigative report how Lin, a powerful businesswoman in the city of Lae, built a web of ties with prominent PNG citizens. She owns dozens of businesses including KC 2, located at Lae’s 7th Street, where 71.5 Kg of crystal meth was stored and then transported to Bulolo.
The report also revealed that she appeared to obtain PNG citizenship in 2016 by falsely claiming to have attended two elite local schools in the capital city, Port Moresby.
“We understand that the person that was arrested is a PNG citizen, and Immigration is currently investigating the process of how she got her citizenship,” PNG’s Deputy Prime Minister and Immigration Minister, John Rosso, told Inside PNG in Lae last week.
Among other details, Inside PNG and OCCRP’s January investigation revealed that Lin’s 2016 citizenship application included a letter — rife with grammar and spelling errors — purporting to confirm her attendance at Port Moresby Grammar School that school authorities say was signed by a non-existent staff member and labelled the document as fraud.
This follows a joint investigation in June 2023 by Inside PNG Investigative Journalists and OCCRP who visited the schools Mei Lin claimed she attended in Port Moresby when applying for her PNG citizenship. The school Administrations of the two elite schools, Port Moresby Grammar and Port Moresby International confirmed that Mei Lin has never attended these schools, nor graduated from these institutions.
Inside PNG met with then PNG Chief Migration Officer Stanis Hulahau last year and revealed how Mei Lin got her citizenship. Hulahau shockingly told Inside PNG that there would be an inquiry into how she got her citizenship, however, that didn’t happen.
Immigration Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, John Rosso at a press conference speaking about the investigation into allegations against PNG’s former Chief Migration Officer, Stanis Hulahau.
Lin’s questionable citizenship application is not her only entanglement in PNG’s immigration system.
Reporting by Inside PNG and International Partner OCCRP and other media has also revealed that companies linked to Lin have benefitted from a controversial Australian-funded program to care for refugees that is now being probed for corruption.
Australian authorities have also alleged that Lin ordered one of her accomplices to pay A$10,000 (US$ 6,546) to a Sydney bank account in the name of PNG’s then-chief migration officer, Stanis Hulahau, in order to obtain a visa to travel to PNG to take part in the drug trafficking scheme. Hulahau resigned in February and has not been charged with any crime.
However, Immigration Minister and Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso, told Inside PNG last week that the allegations are serious and investigations are underway by KPMG, to prove the allegations against the then Chief Migration Officer, Stanis Hulahau.
“Allegations are allegations until completion of all the necessary investigation and if prosecutions if any, this should be put in place,” said Rosso.
Meanwhile, 15 people have been charged over the March 2023 meth flight. Eight men, including six PNG nationals and two Chinese citizens, are facing trial in PNG. Lin was the seventh person charged in Australia.
Prominent Fiji-based businessman Zhao Fugang is a trusted advocate for China’s interests in the Pacific. But Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies suspect he plays another part: as a senior organized crime leader. Fugang has not been charged with any crime.
KEY POINTS:
Since mid-2023, Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have secretly designated Zhao Fugang a top international organized crime figure.
Zhao is alleged to be a senior member of a syndicate involved in drug smuggling, money laundering, and human trafficking. There is no record of Zhao ever being charged in Australia or elsewhere. Authorities have not publicized any evidence against him and he denies any wrongdoing.
Australian law enforcement officials have shared intelligence on Zhao with Fiji in an effort to get local authorities to move against him.
From his perch at the hilltop Yue Lai Hotel, China-born entrepreneur Zhao Fugang enjoys a panoramic view of Fiji’s seaside capital, Suva.
But Zhao’s hotel is not just the headquarters of his local business empire, which has stretched from tourism to property development. It’s also the base for the businessman’s parallel job: promoting China’s influence in the Pacific country.
The imposing red-and-black hotel is a favored venue for the local Chinese embassy’s official functions, where Zhao has rubbed shoulders with senior Fijian officials. It’s also home to an official “service center” for Chinese citizens, which has played a public role in fostering security ties between China and Fiji.
Zhao Fugang’s Yue Lai Hotel, located in Suva, the capital of Fiji. [[Photo credit: OCCRP]]
The businessman’s role is typical of Beijing’s steady efforts to build its footprint in the Pacific Islands. The ruling Chinese Communist Party often uses prominent members of the overseas diaspora as proxies to push Chinese interests, under a strategy it calls the “United Front.”
As Western countries fret over China’s rising influence in the strategically important Pacific islands, Australia — a key U.S. ally — has set its sights on Zhao, a joint investigation by OCCRP and Australia’s Nine media outlets have found.
In secret, Australian law enforcement and intelligence agencies believe that Zhao is not merely a businessman or political operative. They suspect he is also a senior organized crime figure — and they’re pushing Fiji to move against him.
Reporters pieced together an understanding of Australia’s targeting of Zhao by reviewing documents circulated among law enforcement agencies and conducting interviews with Australian, U.S., and Fijian security officials.
Australia’s top criminal intelligence body, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, went to the extraordinary step of adding Zhao to its registry of Australian Priority Organization Targets in mid-2023, reporters have learned. The list of priority targets is secret, and includes about a dozen top suspected criminals, typically based abroad, who are deemed to be “the most significant threats facing Australia.”
Zhao’s designation is the first time a known political operative has been added to the list, and is an acknowledgement that China is believed to be using organized criminal networks as proxies to push its interests in the Pacific, said John Coyne, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
“This is the beginning of a journey to really look inside to identify… what else is happening across the Pacific in terms of this interference, how else are we seeing that sort of merging or graying the line between organized crime figures and also people who are working for the Chinese government,” Coyne said.
Reporters found that Australian law enforcement has since at least 2021 suspected that Zhao is a senior member of a transnational syndicate that has been active in the region for decades and “likely has good access to corrupt officials,” according to one document.
The syndicate is allegedly involved in crimes including human trafficking, money laundering, and the large-scale flow of drugs to Australia. Its senior members had a “demonstrated ability to coordinate their operations in the region,” the document says.
Zhao has never been charged in Australia with any crime, nor have authorities made their suspicions public.
Inclusion on the list is based on intelligence and is not proof of wrongdoing. The list is circulated among Australia’s main law enforcement agencies as part of a strategy to use the full force of the government to take apart the most complex and tough transnational criminal networks.
Fiji’s Home Affairs and Immigration Minister, Pio Tikoduadua, confirmed that Australian authorities had shared intelligence with him that raised “serious” concerns about Zhao.
Tikouadua said in an interview that Fijian law enforcement may “act on something that has been raised with us by foreign intelligence,” but added that the allegation “must have some basis in fact and in law for us to be able to respond to it.”
During a brief exchange with a reporter at his hotel, Zhao denied any involvement in criminality. Asked if he worked on behalf of the Chinese government, he gave a one word answer: “Yes.”
Zhao Fugang. [[Photo credit: Nine]]
China’s embassy in Suva declined to answer questions about Zhao, a naturalized Fiji citizen, and said all questions should be directed to local officials.
“The Chinese government attaches great importance to and is fully committed to protecting the safety and lawful rights and interest of overseas Chinese nationals. We always ask overseas Chinese nationals to comply with local laws and regulations, and not to engage in any illegal activities,” the embassy said.
“Your suspicion of the relation between Chinese government and Chinese community in Fiji is entirely groundless.”
Pacific in Play
The intense Australian focus on Zhao comes amid rising Western concerns about China’s ambitions in the Pacific Islands.
China has in recent years managed to establish formal ties with the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Nauru, convincing them to abandon diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, a U.S. ally that Beijing considers a “renegade province.”
In 2022, China signed a secret security pact with Solomon Islands, a leaked draft of which appeared to allow Beijing to send security forces to the country “protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects.” The announcement of the agreement sparked concern in Washington, D.C., as well as the capitals of Australia and New Zealand.
Those Chinese inroads followed earlier gains in Fiji during the authoritarian rule of former Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who came to power in a 2006 coup and was voted out in late 2022. Under Bainimarama, Fiji and China inked a bilateral policing agreement in early 2011, complete with deliveries of equipment and training.
Former Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama (left) with Cao Gangchuan (right), former Minister of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China, in a meeting in Beijing, China, in 2005. [[Photo credit: Imago/Alamy Stock Photo]]
The pact was “extraordinary in terms of the level of detail,” said Graeme Smith, an expert on China and the Pacific at the Australian National University.
“It’s detailed to the extent there’s even a hotline that you could call in the event of any problem,” he said. “Like, literally 24/7 in Beijing, there would be someone to pick up the phone and say, ‘Here we are. We’re ready to jump on a plane.’”
That’s exactly what Beijing did in 2017, sending an aircraft full of police officers to Fiji to round up scores of suspects in an online fraud operation and bring them back to China. The operation, in which the suspects were marched onto the aircraft by Chinese police and placed in black hoods, was heavily criticized by Fiji’s opposition. After Barinimarama was voted out of power, the new government quickly suspended the policing agreement.
Chinese media reports and press releases show that, from at least 2014, Zhao promoted himself as an “adviser” to Bainimarama. Zhao’s exact relationship with Bainimarama’s government is unclear, but both analysts and former government insiders have said that Zhao made efforts to forge personal relationships with the prime minister and other top officials.
Bainimarama even presided over the opening ceremony for Zhao’s Yue Lai Hotel in 2014. The event is commemorated on a plaque embedded near the hotel’s entrance — which was covered up with a sticker after Bainimarama was voted out of office.
Zhao did not respond to written questions. When approached by a reporter for Nine at his hotel, Zhao said he had simply been acquainted with Bainimarama because the former premier had dined at the hotel restaurant.
“Everyone knows Frank,” said Zhao, referring to the former prime minister by his first name before snapping a photograph of the reporter.
Bainimarama did not respond to a request for comment.
China’s “Front Man” in Fiji
Zhao’s role as a representative of Beijing is spelled out in detail in Chinese media reports and official documents.
Since at least the mid-2010s, Zhao has held a series of senior positions at organizations controlled by the United Front Work Department, an office of the Chinese Communist Party that, among other things, coordinates efforts to use China’s diaspora abroad to influence local elites and push Beijing’s interests.
Zhao has held leading positions in United Front groups, including an organization for the northern Chinese diaspora in Fiji, according to Chinese state media. He has also headed a Fiji-based organization of diaspora Chinese advocating for the “reunification” of Taiwan with China.
At one point, Zhao served on the council of an Australia-Pacific Taiwan reunification body headed by Huang Xiangmo, a Chinese billionaire and Australian political donor. Huang had his Australian permanent residency canceled and was barred re-entry to the country in 2019 after the domestic intelligence agency alleged that he was interfering in Australian politics on Beijing’s behalf. Huang has denied the allegations of foreign interference.
Chinese-language media reports show that Zhao has made trips back to China to meet with United Front officials, and in 2017 and 2019 attended the organization’s flagship annual assembly.
Meanwhile, in Fiji, Zhao set about building high-level ties.
“He’s really in many ways the front man for the Chinese state in Fiji,” said Smith, of the Australian National University. “There’s no other serious player in town.”
With Zhao’s help, China “got in very, very deep and very, very close” to Bainimarama’s government, he said.
‘Not a Friend’
Zhao appears to have played a key role in promoting China’s security interests in Fiji.
In 2016, company registry documents and media reports show that Zhao set up at his hotel an official Overseas Chinese Service Center. Beijing has denied claims from Western governments and researchers that these centers are part of a global network of offices that have, in some cases, been used to monitor Chinese citizens abroad. China says the purpose of the offices is to help Chinese citizens carry out banal tasks like renewing official documents.
As head of the center, Zhao attended and played host to several high-level meetings on security cooperation, according to reports in Chinese-language media. Senior Fijian police officers attended these meetings, as well as local Chinese business leaders and embassy officials.
At first glance, it may seem strange that a person trusted by China’s government to support its law enforcement efforts in Fiji is suspected by Australia of being involved in serious organized crime.
But expertssay that China has a track record in using “patriotic” organized crime figures as proxies abroad, particularly when part of the job is to influence local elites.
“You need fixers. You need people who know people. And often criminals have a really good Rolodex,” ANU’s Smith said.
“If you can find people that are successful businesspeople and involved in criminal activities, then they’re often your most effective vectors in-country, because they know people and they’re willing to do the stuff that the state doesn’t want to do.”
Previous OCCRP reporting has revealed how the Chinese government has relied on dubious businesspeople –– including a notorious triad leader nicknamed ‘Broken Tooth’ –– to advance its interests elsewhere in the Pacific.
Australia’s suspicions about Zhao’s alleged criminal connections also come amid mounting concern over a rise in drug trafficking through Fiji, which sits between Latin America and deep-pocketed buyers in Australia and New Zealand.
Zhao Fugang (right) stands with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka (second from left) during an event with the Chinese Embassy at his Yue Lai Hotel in 2023 to celebrate the Chinese New Year. [[Photo credit: Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in The Republic of Fiji]]
OCCRP reported last year on how neglect by senior leaders in Fiji’s previous government led to an explosion of methamphetamine and cocaine smuggling through the country. Fiji Police seized a record 4.8 tons of meth in January — a haul worth hundreds of millions of dollars that would be enough to supply all of Australia for nearly six months. OCCRP and partners are not alleging that Zhao is involved in the recent seizures.
Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said in an interview that he was unaware of Australian claims that Zhao is involved in organized crime.
Rabuka’s government announced in mid-March that it was restarting the policing agreement that it had suspended last year. But the prime minister nonetheless said he had concerns that China’s government may have links to organized crime groups active in Fiji.
“I do not want to… open the door to someone that could turn out to be not a friend,” said Rabuka.
Mei Lin is a prominent member of Papua New Guinea’s business community, with ties to influential locals. She’s also a key player in an audacious drug trafficking plot.
KEY POINTS: ● The owner of an international network of companies, Lin is alleged to have used her cornerstone PNG business, KC 2, to store and transfer over 71 kilograms of methamphetamine from PNG to Australia. ● Born in China, Lin has built business ties to prominent PNG citizens, including a former deputy prime minister and senior members of the local Chinese diaspora. ● She obtained PNG citizenship in 2016, but appears to have falsified key parts of her life story to do so. ● Companies tied to Lin have received Australian government money under a controversial program that is now being probed for corruption.
By Julie Badui Owa, Carmel Pilotti, Kila Wani, Dan McGarry, and Aubrey Belford
Chinese-born businesswoman Mei Lin spent more than a decade building an economic empire in Papua New Guinea, spanning sectors from retail to real estate; and cultivating ties with wealthy and powerful figures in the Pacific nation.
But that world came crashing down on January 16 when Lin, 41, was arrested in the Australian city of Brisbane. Police accuse her of facilitating a “black flight” last year that smuggled over 71 kilograms of methamphetamine from a remote hillside airstrip in PNG to Australia.
The drug smuggling scheme was foiled on March 21 in a coordinated operation by PNG and Australian police, who swooped in as the light plane stopped to refuel in the rural Australian community of Monto. Six people were arrested and charged in Australia, including two pilots. Eight others were charged in PNG, including a police officer and a soldier.
But it took nine months for police to collect enough evidence to arrest and charge Lin. She is alleged to have stored the meth and organized its transportation within PNG; the Australian Federal Police said in a statement after her arrest, as well as paying for fuel for the aircraft and the use of the runway in the town of Bulolo, where it took off.
Inside PNG, in close collaboration with international partner, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), spent months investigating Lin, who had previously attracted nationwide controversy over dealings unrelated to drugs. Reporters examined thousands of pages of public documents and court records, and spoke to police in both PNG and Australia.
They found that, prior to her arrest, Lin built business ties with some of PNG’s most prominent figures, including the country’s former deputy prime minister, Moses Maladina. Companies linked to Lin appear to have also benefited from Australian government assistance to the country.
Lin is now “the prime suspect” in the methamphetamine smuggling case, said Manu Pulei, the lead PNG police investigator.
“Without Mei Lin, this thing wouldn’t have happened,” Pulei told Inside PNG.
The light plane intercepted in Australia with methamphetamine on board last March.[[Photo credit Australian Federal Police]]
PNG court records obtained by reporters show that the allegations against Lin are centered on her role as owner and boss of KC 2; a wholesale and retail firm in Lae where the meth was allegedly stored. A KC 2 employee arrested last year over the drug smuggling operation, Lin Hezhong, is her uncle.
That business, however, is just one of nearly two dozen companies involving Lin in PNG and Australia, according to corporate documents obtained by reporters.
Documents show that Lin was a manager at one company owned by former Deputy Prime Minister Maladina, Chatswood PNG, which is the subject of an investigation into the alleged abuse of Australian government funding for the care of refugees and asylum seekers in the country under Australia’s “offshore processing” regime.
Maladina and his company are not alleged to be connected to drug trafficking.
A detailed list of questions were sent to Lin’s lawyer. No response was received by press time.
In a written response to reporters’ questions, Maladina denied any wrongdoing in the migration scheme and said Lin had only briefly worked for his company.
Mei Lin
“Chatswood is not and has never been involved in any illegal [activity], and we strongly oppose the use of and involvement with drugs in our society. Chatswood and its Directors and staff are NOT in any way associated with the activities of Mei Lin,” Maladina said.
Lin’s other recent business partners have included a prominent Malaysia-born business tycoon, the daughter of a former prime minister, and two prominent ethnic Chinese business figures who have played senior roles in Beijing-backed organizations in the country.
None of those people are accused of any connection to drug smuggling, and the charges against Lin have yet to be tried in court.
Lin’s case comes amid fears that rising drug trafficking through PNG could further destabilize a country that is already rife with poverty and elite corruption. The country is already awash with illegal guns and is frequently gripped by violence, such as urban riots earlier this month that killed 22 people.
Surging demand for narcotics in Australia, one of the world’s most expensive drug markets, makes PNG a natural transit point for international drug traffickers, said Jeremy Douglas, regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
The route the “black flight” took from Papua New Guinea to Australia on March 21, 2023. [[ Image supplied by Edin Pašović]]
“The proximity of PNG to Australia is perfect for staging shipments by small private planes [and] fishing vessels,” Douglas said.
“We’ve seen traffickers fronting as business people to build connections with local elites and power players across the region. It is simply easier to co-opt elites and officials where capacities are lower and activities are not heavily scrutinized,” Douglas said.
Unclear Origins
Lin had been a well-known — and controversial — figure in PNG even before her arrest.
Born in China’s southeastern Fujian province in 1982, Lin — who also goes by the name Gigi — claims to have immigrated to PNG with her family as a teenager, attending two of the country’s most exclusive schools, according to documents submitted to PNG authorities as part of her successful 2016 citizenship application, which were obtained by reporters.
However, the information submitted by Lin to acquire citizenship contains key inconsistencies.
Lin gave PNG authorities a letter written in error-riddled English attesting to her attendance at Port Moresby Grammar School. But school administrator, David Olley told reporters it was a “fraudulent letter” that had been signed by a person who had never worked there.
“Any agency or reader should be able to detect that it is a fraud and therefore not respect the letter,” Olley said.
Lin also told authorities she had studied at the elite Port Moresby International School . But the school’s secretary, Albina Melua, said she could find no record of Lin’s attendance.
“In 2003, there was no Lin here,” Melua said.
Whatever her true life story, public records show that Lin has, over the last decade, become a force in business in her adopted country.
She built her base of power in her adoptive hometown of Lae, a port city that acts as the gateway to PNG’s fabled highlands. Corporate documents show that Lin set up the centerpiece of her network there in 2013, the supermarket and wholesaler KC 2.
Business soon boomed, with company revenues exploding from just 6.4 million kina (US$1.7 million in current value) in 2013, to over 121 million kina ($33 million) by 2022.
Lin soon built a reputation as a local power player who treated even public officials “just like talking to an ordinary friend or colleague or employee,” said Joikere Kusip, a lawyer who has worked for her.
Lin also began to attract critical nationwide attention, after local media reports alleged that she had improperly obtained state-owned land and violently evicted tenants. One of her land deals was ruled illegal, and Lin was questioned by a parliamentary committee in 2021.
Elite Education and ‘Kwik Moni’
Negative publicity doesn’t appear to have slowed Lin’s rise among PNG’s movers and shakers.
Corporate records show that Lin has over the last decade established at least a dozen other PNG-based companies, along with other close family members and partners. The firms have spanned sectors including property, security, nightclubs, gambling, and finance.
Lin’s list of business associates has included some prominent local names.
In 2020, Lin became a founding director of the Raggiana International Academy, an elite school in Lae, partly owned by Vanessa Chan-Pelgen, the daughter of former PNG Prime Minister, Sir Julius Chan. Lin is still a director at the academy. Chan-Pelgen did not respond to questions about Lin’s association with the school.
The following year, Lin co-founded a new financial institution, Kwik Moni, alongside a roster of other well-known figures in PNG.
Kwik Moni bills itself as a lender for personal expenses including “school fees, bride price, funeral expenses… and any worthwhile purposes.”
Lin’s fellow shareholders included Jimmy Poh, a Malaysia-born businessman whose interests include high-profile property developments in the capital, Port Moresby. He was previously a director of a major PNG health supplies company, Borneo Pacific Pharmaceuticals. Founded by his brother, Martin, Borneo Pacific has been a key supplier of medical kits and drugs to the PNG government. Australia reportedly withdrew funding for a PNG health program involving Borneo in 2013, citing concerns over how the company was awarded the contract and allegations by doctors that it had imported substandard drugs into the country.
Poh did not respond to questions about his business ties with Lin.
Other partners in Kwik Moni include two people who have held senior roles in the China and PNG Friendship Association, an advocacy organization for the Chinese diaspora in the country. Although ostensibly aimed at promoting bilateral relations and the interests of overseas Chinese, analysts say such organizations ultimately fall under the control of the ruling Chinese Communist Party under a so-called “United Front” strategy to push Beijing’s interests abroad.
One of these Kwik Moni partners, Billy Huaan Lin, also hails from Fujian province and is the owner of a network of companies in PNG including a Port Moresby-based car dealership, 2 Fast Motors Ltd. He has served in several leadership roles in the China and PNG Friendship Association. He has also played an intermediary role in PNG’s security relationship with China, donning a PNG police uniform and traveling with PNG officers to China for training, according to Chinese media coverage.
Screenshot of video showing Billy Huaan Lin, center, in PNG police uniform, at a training for PNG law enforcement in China. [[Photo credit: : Sohu.com]]
Another partner in Kwik Moni, Irene Wan Xia Seeto, has been identified in local media as recently as 2021 as chapter head of the China-PNG association in the township of Rabaul.
Screenshot from Facebook of Irene Wan Xia Seeto. [[Photo credit: Facebook]]
Neither Billy Lin nor Irene Seeto responded directly to requests for comment from OCCRP, but after questions were sent to them and Poh, Kwik Moni issued a press release saying that Mei Lin had been “requested to resign from the board and dispose of her shareholdings” in March 2023, after the company became aware of allegations against her. Indeed, corporate records obtained by reporters show that Lin relinquished her stake in the company last April, about three weeks after the meth flight. The shares were transferred to her father and another person, who appears to be a relative.
But Lin’s alleged involvement in the flight did not deter her Kwik Moni business partner, Seeto, from continuing their business relationship. Corporate records from Australia show that Seeto and Lin opened a new company together in August 2023, called IG Developments Pty Ltd, which lists its place of business as what appears to be an empty lot in suburban Brisbane. It is unclear what the company does.
Lin and the Malaysian-born businessman Poh have also remained partners in a Port Moresby-based company, Arabica Coffee Exports (PNG) Ltd, according to company filings.
OCCRP and Inside PNG are not alleging any wrongdoing by Poh, Seeto, or Billy Lin.
Immigration Deals
Some of Lin’s most consequential dealings relate to her business relationship with the former PNG deputy prime minister, Maladina.
That relationship was first reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on January 20, but OCCRP and Inside PNG have uncovered additional documents that provide further detail on the ties between Maladina and Lin.
Maladina has recently faced scrutiny over allegations that the company he founded, Chatswood PNG, has mismanaged funds granted by Australia under a secret deal to care for migrants left in the country by Australia’s much-criticized policy of turning back boats carrying asylum seekers.
Australia’s Home Affairs Department in late 2021 handed over to PNG authorities responsibility for the accommodation and welfare of previously detained migrants living in the country and awaiting refugee resettlement. The agreement came with a commitment by Australia to provide an undisclosed amount of funding, in an arrangement known as the PNG humanitarian program (PHP).
Maladina’s Chatswood PNG, which was designated a key service provider under the deal, soon faced allegations from migrants that it was failing to provide services like food deliveries. PNG’s immigration minister pledged an investigation last October after whistleblower complaints from within PNG’s Immigration and Citizenship Authority alleged that millions of dollars had likely gone missing under the scheme, and that Chatswood PNG was allegedly involved in fraudulent billing.
Maladina told reporters that Chatswood PNG was just one of several contractors on the PHP and that “the person named as Mei Lin has absolutely no association with the company in its Ownership, Shareholding or Directorship,” he said. Lin had only worked for the company’s property division for two months “on a casual basis,” he said. He gave a similar statement to the ABC.
However, OCCRP and Inside PNG have obtained documents that appear to show that Mei Lin did in fact play a senior role in Chatswood PNG. These include a February 2022 letter bearing the company’s seal and signed by Lin, in which she identified herself as the “property manager” of Chatswood PNG, and a Chatswood PNG corporate visa card in her name.
A letter bearing the Chatswood PNG seal signed by Mei Lin, who also uses the first name Gigi, in which she identified herself as a “property manager” for the company.A Chatswood PNG company card in Mei Lin’s name
Namora Niugini, a Lin family business, is also alleged by the whistleblower to have been involved in fraudulently charging the PHP in concert with Chatswood PNG.
PNG’s chief migration officer, Stanis Hulahau, has previously told local media that Namora Niugini was a contractor on the project, while Chatswood PNG was the program case manager. The company “provided groceries/vouchers and an allowance for the refugees,” Hulahau was quoted as saying.
A third company, bearing the name PNG Humanitarian Program Ltd was established by Maladina in October 2021, two months before the bilateral agreement was inked, corporate records show. It was transferred to Lin’s ownership five months later and subsequently renamed ABC Enterprises. It is unclear if the firm has played a role in the administration of the migration scheme.
Maladina told OCCRP and Inside PNG that his company had no direct relationship to Namora Niugini.
Maladina also said that although he had “assisted” in the establishment of PNG Humanitarian Program Ltd, he “had no involvement whatsoever [in] the subsequent creation of ABC Enterprises Ltd… [and] no knowledge of its business and functions.”
Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said in a written response that reporters’ questions were “a matter for the PNG government.”
Hulahau did not respond to questions.
New Evidence
Despite Lin’s growing prominence in PNG, law enforcement appeared to have been unaware of any alleged connection between Lin and drugs prior to last year’s meth flight.
Inside PNG and OCCRP reconstructed the investigation using public documents, PNG court records, and interviews with police in both PNG and Australia.
Australian police arresting Mei Lin in her Brisbane home on January 16. [[Picture credit: Australian Federal Police]]
The investigation that foiled the flight started in late 2022 in Australia’s commercial capital, Sydney, where AFP narcotics investigators picked up intelligence that a group including local pilots and their associates allegedly intended to fly meth into Australia from PNG.
At least one similar scheme had been attempted before. In 2020, a light plane weighed down by a reported half-tonne of cocaine crashed in PNG’s forests while attempting to reach Australia.
The following year, a raid on a hotel in PNG’s capital of Port Moresby reportedly uncovered a meth lab operated by an Australian citizen. The suspect was released after local authorities made the embarrassing discovery that methamphetamine had not yet been added to the country’s list of controlled substances.
So, after getting wind last year that a group of Australians including pilots were allegedly plotting to import meth by plane from PNG, the AFP put the group under surveillance. They worked with other Australian law enforcement and PNG police to spring a trap on both sides of the Torres Strait, which separates Australia from its northern neighbor.
At the time, they were still unaware of the identity of Mei Lin or her alleged accomplices in PNG, AFP Eastern Command investigations head Kate Ferry told OCCRP.
“The AFP and [PNG police] were investigating who was involved in the drug import plot in PNG but we did not identify the alleged offenders until the day of the flight,” Ferry said.
Arrests in PNG on March 21 led police to a warehouse owned by Lin’s KC 2 that served as a storage point for the meth, which a chemical analysis found was similar to drugs produced by Mexican cartels.
Officers found that Lin had left Lae for Australia the day before the meth flight. Two days after that, she was questioned at Brisbane airport as she prepared to fly to Taiwan. She was allowed to depart after insufficient evidence was found to arrest her. She subsequently returned to Australia and lived in Brisbane until her arrest.
But back in PNG, the investigation into the eight suspects arrested there eventually produced evidence –– including CCTV footage and testimony –– that allegedly implicated Lin.
That investigation is ongoing and authorities will release only “limited information” until it is complete, PNG’s police minister Peter Tsiamalili said in a January 22 statement.
“These international criminal networks, particularly from parts of Asia, are organized and the damage they cause to people in our countries is devastating,” Tsiamalili said.
PAPUA New Guinea’s Prime Minister, James Marape is scheduled to meet with U.S Secretary of State, Antony Blinken this Thursday while attending the APEC 2023 Leader’s Summit.
Marape arrived in San Francisco at 4.45pm local time, with Climate Change Mitigation Issues, increased trade and commerce and security for the Pacific as three top issues he plans to speak about.
Prime Minister James Marape Arrives in San Francisco.
“APEC is the biggest block that PNG belongs to, and we value the link and opportunities that this forum provides for us. PNG is fortunate to have developed strong bilateral relationships with nearly half of these economies,” Marape said.
He will join 20 World Leaders of APEC economies in high-level discussions that have been preluded by senior government officials and ministers’ meetings on 11 – 13 November.
Under the theme, Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All, the 2023 Summit is desired to address economic-related issues like Sustainability, Digitalization, Women’s Economic Empowerment, Trade Facilitation, Energy Security, and Health.
Marape said PNG’s participation at the series of senior officials and minister’s meetings is important because it gives PNG the opportunity to discuss with economies and potential investors.
At the close of the Summit this Friday, the World Leaders should culminate in the adoption of an Outcome Document.
While in the US, Marape is expected to hold private sector meetings with the U.S Chamber of Commerce, Renew West, Source Global, ExxonMobil and International Development Finance Corporation.
APEC economies include Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong China, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federation, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States of America, and Vietnam.
PNG Prime Minister, James Marape has cautioned Israel on its response to Hamas, a Palestine faction of Islamic Militants who attacked Israel and killed 384 people and the wounding of 1,697 others at 11:30am PNG time.
Described as a surprise attack, the on-going conflict between the Israeli and Hamas includes the dispute over Al-Aqsa Mosque which is considered sacred to both Palestine and Muslims.
The PNG Government is issuing statements condemning the attack because it recently opened its Embassy in Jerusalem.
Marape who condemned the attack on Israel said war-related violence is out of place in this modern day and age.
“In a world where the modern family of nations are coming together under the United Nations charter and rules on human rights, any issues we may have with each other must be resolved through peaceful means,” said Marape.
Marape said if they engage in war and acts of terrorism the response equals to violence.
“Papua New Guinea has shown this since 2001 when we came together to sit at the table in the Bougainville Peace Process. We settled on a Peace Agreement and we are now working through this process to resolve our issues peacefully,” Marape added.
Hence Marape has encouraged Hamas and others aggrieved in matters in relation to the Nation of Israel to resolve these issues through negotiations that can lead to a peaceful outcome.
PNG Foreign Affairs Secretary, Elias Wohengu, echoed Marape’s comments describing the attack as barbaric, unproved and callous.
“The grim reality of this senseless attack is that the hard yards of tedious gains and achievements would be lost overnight, said Wohengu.
He added that the Middle East is experiencing unprecedented economic and commercial growth and expansion in the region triggered by winds of change and flowers of friendship and springs of peace.
![Graffiti on a building being reconstructed following the 2021 Honiara riots.[[Photo credit: Dan McGarry]]](https://i0.wp.com/insidepng.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Graffiti-on-a-building-in-Honiara.png?resize=770%2C508&ssl=1)
![The route the "black flight" took from Papua New Guinea to Australia
on March 21, 2023. [[ Image supplied by Edin Pašović]]](https://i0.wp.com/insidepng.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/WhatsApp-Image-2024-01-27-at-06.02.13.jpeg?resize=770%2C929&ssl=1)
![Screenshot from Facebook of Irene Wan Xia Seeto. [[Photo credit: Facebook]]](https://i0.wp.com/insidepng.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/WhatsApp-Image-2024-01-27-at-06.11.28.jpeg?resize=445%2C627&ssl=1)
![Australian police arresting Mei Lin in her Brisbane home on January 16.
[[Picture credit: Australian Federal Police]]](https://i0.wp.com/insidepng.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/WhatsApp-Image-2024-01-27-at-07.37.30-1.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1)
