By Natalie Whiting - ABC News
Almost seven months after Papua New Guinea staged the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference, the majority of the controversial Maseratis it bought to ferry around VIPs are still sitting in Port Moresby.
The minister who was responsible for APEC, Justin Tkatchenko, said the process to sell them had been "mishandled".
Mr Tkatchenko said only one Maserati and one Bentley have been sold, according to reports he has received from the finance department.
"The tenders were issued wrongly. That's the problem," he said.
"There was no reserve price.
Forty Maseratis, which retail for around $140,000, and three Bentleys, one of which has since been gifted to the Governor General, were bought for the event.
The purchase of the luxury vehicles became a lightning rod for concerns about the cost of staging APEC, with critics accusing the Government of spending money on expensive cars, while failing to deliver basic services for its people.
The Government and APEC Authority maintained the cars would be easily sold on afterwards and were a necessary purchase for the event.
In February, then-finance minister James Marape, who is now the Prime Minister, announced a tender process for the vehicles had opened.
Despite initial claims the cars would "sell like hotcakes", Mr Tkatchenko said interest in the cars could be waning.
"So, it's unfortunate, we have to go back to the drawing board and retender due to the fact they have to get it done properly."
Mr Tkatchenko said the sale of the vehicles was being handled by the finance department.
He could not say how many formal expressions of interest were received in the tender process, estimating it to be in the mid-forties.
"Well we received all the expressions of interest that covers the cars, but the price that they expressed were just too low and unreasonable."
When asked how much he expected to lose on the cars, he said "wouldn't have a clue".
When the purchase of the vehicles was revealed in October last year, Mr Tkatchenko, insisted there would be "no cost to the state whatsoever at the end of the day".
While addressing the media, he criticised the sale process and said it would need to be redone, but did not mention that two vehicles had been sold.
A press statement issued after the event said, "from finance departments reports, one Bentley and one Maserati were sold".
A subsequent question of what those two vehicles had been sold for has been referred to the finance department.
Another tender process may be held to sell the rest of the vehicles, or they may be given to a car dealer to sell.
Almost $12 million in APEC bills still outstanding
The final cost of staging the event will be included in an APEC report which will be tabled in parliament, but it is still not clear when that will happen.
Mr Tkatchenko said almost 30 million kina, ($12 million), in bills to APEC vendors and contractors still had not been paid.
He blamed the finance department for the unpaid accounts and said that had been holding up the report, which he said will now be submitted with the outstanding costs listed.
"We can't keep on going like this forever, and even though these suppliers are still not being paid, we need to move on," he said.
Mr Tkatchenko said financial reports from the Department of Finance and the Prime Minister's Department were also required.
He said he is frustrated by how long the process is taking, but said the APEC Authority was close to completing the report.
"I want it concluded, so that everyone can see the facts and the truth about how everything was run and operated. There's nothing to hide."
The country's newly appointed police minister, Bryan Kramer, also wants to see the final APEC report.
He was in opposition during the event and was a vocal critic of the costs associated with it.
"I need the report to understand how public funds were spent on those vehicles," he told local newspaper, The National.
He said at the moment he did not have any evidence "to suggest that there was any wrongdoing".
Mr Tkatchenko said he was disappointed by the comments.
"I don't report to the police minister; I report to the Prime Minister of this country," he said.
He said everything had been done through the proper processes.
"I was disappointed, I must say I was disappointed, but he's a new minister, I'm sure he'll learn the ropes as he goes along. To talk to ministers in their portfolios — look I'm open, if anyone wants information."
Go to this link for more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-23/papua-new-guinea-apec-maseratis-still-not-sold/11239446
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