Below is the eightieth part of the serialized edited version of the National Provident Fund Commission of Inquiry Final Report that first appeared in the Post Courier newspaper in 2002/3.
NPF Final Report
This is the 80th extract from the National Provident Fund (now known as NASFUND) Commission of Inquiry report. The inquiry was conducted by retired justice Tos Barnett and investigated widespread misuse of member funds. The report recommended action be taken against several high-profile leaders, including former NPF chairman Jimmy Maladina. The report was tabled in Parliament on November 20 by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare.
Executive Summary Schedule 9 Continued
1999
Outsourced legal fees for 1999 are reported in paragraph 6.4.7.
The state of the NPF records makes it difficult to separate fees for general work from investment related legal work so they are considered together.
The total comes to K442,648.12 plus $A871.90 paid to 11 different firms.
The massive amount of K202,023.46 went to Carter Newell (and an extra K17,602.58 described at paragraph 6.4.8).
Maladinas Lawyers was paid K17,653.50 for work which should have been handled “in-house”, including K5000 for fees relating to the Employers Federation challenge to Mr Maladina’s appointment, which should not have been paid by NPF at all.
Both large and small matters were briefed to Carter Newell in 1999.
Findings
(a) Substantial fees were again paid to offshore legal firms in relation to the $A bond (Allen Allen & Helmsley) and the Cue Energy Resources situation (Freehill Hollingdale & Page) on the basis of their complexity and the need for specialised legal expertise;
(b) Fees paid domestically for board restructure advice (from Allens Arthur Robinson) and some of the work referred to Maladinas, Fiocco Posman & Kua and Carter Newell, were properly outsourced because of the complexity and the need for specialised legal expertise;
(c) There is insufficient detailed evidence to enable the commission to comment on matters referred to other firms;
(d) There is a discernable trend whereby more work was referred out to external lawyers, which should have been capably handled by NPF’s “in-house” lawyers; and
(e) The level of fees suggests that matters of lesser significance were also referred to Pattersons, Henaos and Young & Williams.
The commission summarises the evolving situation regarding outsourcing legal frees at paragraph 6.5.
Summary
In the period under consideration, external legal fees paid by NPF for work outsourced grew in the period under review as follows:
To a very large extent, the massive increases in 1998 and 1999 reflected the need to obtain expert and specialised advice in relation to legal transactions in which NPF became involved.
It is equally apparent that there was an increasing trend to brief out to external lawyers matters, which should have been within the competence of NPF’s “in-house” legal staff. This was reflected in the legal fees paid in 1998 and 1999.
The clear major beneficiary of that trend was Carter Newell Lawyers and, to a lesser extent, Fiocco Posman & Kua and an even lesser extent, Maladinas.
At paragraph 6.4.8.12, we said there may have been further legal fees paid to Blake Dawson Waldron and Carter Newell after August 31, 1999 and that this might explain the difference of about K21,000 in fees referred to on that page.
Additional payments
From NPF’s cheque payment records, the commission further extracted the following payments, which were made after August 31, 1999, and not included in earlier material.
Gadens Lawyers (Adding to paragraph 6.4.8.1 and Transcript p.7589)
A payment of a further K2342.95 was made on December 21, 1999 for advice for Ambusa on its copra oil purchase and sales agreement and operations management contract.
Blake Dawson Waldron (Adding to paragraph 6.4.8.6 & Transcript p.7592)
Two further payments were made:
(a) on November 8, 1999, for K9995.56 for advice as to a dispute with Boroko Motors; Pacific Finance Superannuation Fund; debt restructure and a review of Garry Jewiss’ contract with Crocodile Catering;
(b) on December 6, 1999, for K26,743.77 payable to Blake Dawson Waldron Melbourne Australia office, for advice on the sale of shares in Cue Energy Resources.
Carter Newell (Adding to paragraph 6.4.8.7 and Transcript p. 7595)
Three further payments were made:
(a) on November 8, 1999, for K6048.04 for advice as to exemptions under Part VII of the NPF Act and for Mr Mitchel’s employment contract;
(b) on December 2, 1999, for K4087.79 for advice on NPF’s Investment Portfolio involving Deutsche Morgan Grenfell; and
(c) on December 21, 1999, for K7466.75 for advice and work done on the sale of shares to NPF in Kundu Catering; general matters on NPF Tower leasing and a claim by Cue Energy Resources.
The supporting vouchers and invoices are Part M of CD1226. The aggregate of these further payments was K56,648.56 and results in the difference of K21,000 becoming an excess of K25,000.
The commission’s accounting advisors have stated that this difference is probably explained by the manner in which NPF has treated the VAT component in the payments made.
Investigations
In late 1999, the finance inspectors and then the NPF board itself, carried out inquiries into irregularities concerning Mr Maladina and Mr Leahy which included questions about their conflict of interest in briefing legal work to Carter Newell, in which firm Mr Maladina was a partner and Mr Leahy’s wife, Angelina Sariman, was employed.
Although their clear conflict of interest was raised with them, Mr Maladina and Mr Leahy vigorously denied any conflict. Failure to put legal outsourcing out to tender was not, however, raised by the inspectors.
As reported in paragraph 6.6.3, NPF started to brief Carter Newell only after Ms Sariman commenced work with that firm. She was recorded as the work author for 46 of the first 50 new files Carter Newell opened for NPF.
A calling for tenders for legal work was belatedly raised in October 1999 by Mr Giregire and an advertisement was placed in the newspapers.
Findings
(a) Mr Leahy’s conflict of interest regarding outsourcing legal services to Carter Newell is clear. When Mr Leahy briefed out work to this firm where his wife was employed as a lawyer. This amounted to nepotism.
(b) When Mr Maladina became chairman of the NPF Board of Trustees, a further conflict of interest clearly arose, as he was also a partner in Carter Newell;
(c) When Mr Leahy referred legal work to Carter Newell, of which the chairman, Mr Maladina, was a managing partner, it was clearly nepotism. This was also improper conduct by Mr Leahy and a breach of his common law duty to the NPF board;
(d) Mr Maladina never declared his conflict of interest to the board of trustees. This amounted to improper conduct and a breach of his fiduciary duties to the members of the fund;
(e) Mr Maladina, as an equity partner in Carter Newell, benefited from legal work being referred by Mr Leahy to Carter Newell;
(f) Mr Leahy benefited by having his wife employed and continuing to be employed for reward by that firm;
(g) Paying overseas law firms through NPF’s account with Wilson HTM Brisbane, breached the BPNG Foreign Currency Exchange Act and was therefore illegal; and
(h) Management breached normal government tender procedures by not going out to public tender for the provision of legal services.
Procurement Of Security Services Pre-1995
The commission’s terms of reference requires it to examine the procurement of security services for the period commencing January 1, 1995 until December 31, 1999. To understand the situation at the beginning of 1995, however, it is necessary to look briefly at earlier events.
Awarding and terminating NPF’s contract with Kress Securities
On October 7, 1993, Mr Kaviagu, the NPF financial controller, awarded a contract to Kress Security Services beyond the scope of his delegated authority and without following proper tender procedures and evaluation. On December 8, 1993, Mr Kaul issued a memorandum directing that tenders for security services must be submitted to him, with recommendations, for his approval.
On December 21, 1993, Mr Kaul declared the Kress contract to be null and void and put the contract out for be re-tender. Kress refused to tender but sued NPF for breach of contract instead. This matter was eventually settled out of court, with NPF awarding a 12-month contract to Kress, (plus K4000 damages in March 1994), for all NPF’s investment properties except head office. NPF also paid K4000 to Kress in damages.
1995
Thus, at the commencement of the period under review, on January 1, 1995, there were two security firms contracted to NPF.
- Moresby Guards — head office; and
- Kress — all other properties.
The contracts were to expire in March 1995 and tenders were called from a list of firms. The only tender received for the head office was from Moresby Guards. Kress was the lowest of five tenderers for the other properties.
At the NPF board meeting on April 27, 1995, Kress was awarded the contract for all properties, including head office, at a cost per guard of K14,892 per annum.
Findings
(a) The only security contract let in 1995 was to Kress Security for all NPF properties. Tenders were called and Kress Security was the lowest tenderer. Only one tender was received for NPF head office security and no competitive bids were sought, even from Kress Security. There was non-conformity with prescribed tender procedures but it seems clear that the rate offered by Kress Security was the lowest;
(b) The NPF Board of Trustees was clearly informed and involved and itself made the decision to contract Kress Security.
1996
Kress Security was the only security provider for all NPF’s properties throughout 1996, however, Mr Kaul became dissatisfied with Kress’ performance at the head office.
On July 29, 1996, Mr Kaul received a letter from a firm called Metro Security Services Pty Ltd with a proposal to provide security at a cheap rate of K1.70 per hour. Without performing any due diligence, Mr Kaul then recommended to the NPF board that Metro Security replace Kress at head office. At the 103rd board meeting, on October 10, 1996, the Board resolved:
“to replace the current security service with another security service organisation to be decided on by the management”.
This was a full delegation of its role in this matter to management.
On October 25, 1996, Mr Kaul gave Kress three months notice, terminating its head office contract from January 26, 1997. He expressly assured Kress it would continue to provide security for NPF’s other properties.
The commission has examined records of the payments to Kress throughout 1996 and finds that they were in order. The details are set out at paragraphs 7.4.3.1 and 7.8.3.2.
Findings
(a) The amounts paid to Kress Security for head office security services in 1996 was K29,142.80. This compares to the figure shown in the 1995 Income and Expenditure Statement and the same figure for the comparables in the like statement for 1997;
(b) The amount shown by Century 21 statements for rental property security in 1996 was K148,226.41 as against K149,491 shown in the Income and Expenditure statements. Again, the minor differences are probably explained by the fact the commission’s figures are on a cash basis and those in the Income and Expenditure statements were probably made on an accruals basis; and
(c) No new security contract was actually let in 1996, but after being fully informed the NPF board delegated the decision to management.
1997
Contract with Metro
Mr Kaul awarded the head office contract to Metro on November 19, 1996, to commence on January 26, 1997. Mr Frank then wrongly drafted the contract to also include five other NPF properties over which the Kress contract was still in force. This resulted in double security for some weeks until Metro agreed to withdraw from the extra properties on payment by NPF of K4694.75 compensation.
The commission’s research into payments for security in 1997 is set out at paragraphs 7.5.4, 7.5.5, 7.5.6 and 7.5.7. There appear to be no anomalies except two unexplained payments totalling K11,800 to a company named Phantom Security Services Pty Ltd. No invoices exist for this alleged service. The documents show that Mr Leahy was involved in this matter.
Findings
(a) Tender procedures and requirements were totally ignored by NPF management in the letting of security services in 1997;
(b) The amounts paid for head office security in 1997 were K5395.80 to Kress Security and K35,770.95 to Metro Security aggregating K41,166.75. This compares to the figure shown in the 1997 Income and Expenditure statement of K38,593 and the same comparable figure in the like statement for 1998;
(c) The amounts paid for other security services were Kress Security K11,372.40 (for Nine-Mile) and Phantom Security K11,800 for the Kaubebe St property plus the amount shown in the Century 21 statements for rental property security in 1997 of K150,112.80 aggregating in all K169,435.20. This matches the figure shown in the 1997 Income and Expenditure statement of K169,435 and the same comparable figure in the like statement for 1998;
(d) The only changes which took place in the area of continuous security work in 1997 were:
(i) Metro Securities replacing Kress Security as the provider of security at the NPF head office; and
(ii) Kress Security being given additional security work at Nine- Mile housing project.
(e) No tenders were called in 1997 to provide security and there was no competitive bidding obtained for either of the changes in (c) above; and
(f) There was no competitive bidding for the “one-off” job of “Eviction/Demolition” for which Phantom Security was paid.
1998
This was a stable year in security services. Metro continued to provide security services for the head office throughout 1998 for a total fee of K51,246 and the payments disclose no anomalies.
Security services for all other NPF properties were provided by Kress. Kress received the sum of K145,702 through Century 21 for providing this service.
Findings
(a) The amount paid to Metro Security for NPF head office security in 1998 was K31,905.60. This matches the actual figure of K31,906 shown in the 1998 Income and Expenditure statement but not the comparative figure of K33,361 shown in the statement for 1999. The probable reason is that the latter figure for the second half of December 1998 was probably included even though it was paid in 1999; and
(b) The amount paid to Kress Security for all other security services in 1998 was K145,702.
1999
As previously discussed in paragraphs 3.4.1 – 3.4.5, 1999 was the year when NPF property management services were totally restructured with the termination of Century 21’s long standing exclusive management contract.
This was replaced by the awarding of contracts to Gemini and Haka and the lucrative NPF Tower contract to PMFNRE.
This process was marked by Mr Leahy’s interference in the competitive tendering process, which Mr Fabila accepted and facilitated.
1999 was also the year when Mr Maladina was appointed chairman of NPF at the instigation of the then Prime Minister Hon Bill Skate and it was the year when Mr Maladina and Mr Leahy pursued fraudulent schemes against the NPF with the knowledge and acceptance of Mr Fabila.
These same lawless tendencies also characterised the arrangements for security services in 1999.
TO BE CONTINUED
