From POST COURIER/PACNEWS

The Papua New Guinea Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will not take over the responsibilities of existing government agencies, says chief secretary to Government Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc.

Sir Manasupe said this when briefing the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Laws, Acts and Subordinate Legislation Tuesday on Constitutional amendments to establish ICAC and amendments to the Organic law on Provincial and Local Level Governments to establish the District Development Authority.

He said the past governments proposed the Anti-Corruption Bill but no one took the initiative to implement it and make it work. It was this present government led by the Prime Minister who prioritised the fight against corruption and initiated work to establish ICAC.

He said exhaustive consultations have been carried out and the response from the public was very good in support of the establishment of ICAC to weed out corruption at the highest level.

“ICAC will not take over the responsibilities of existing government agencies such as the Ombudsman Commission and the Office of the Public Prosecutor instead, ICAC will complement their work,” said the chief secretary.

“A lot of its function will also involve public awareness, education and research apart from investigating and prosecuting offenders.”

Sir Manasupe also made it clear to the committee that ICAC would be operating independently both operationally and administratively devoid of any political influence.

But he said, despite wide publicity of the meeting, there was poor attendance from the members of the public.