“Boss yah, hem smat
man lo saed lo con and hem gud tumas lo manupuletem man. Mi skul wetem hem lo
form wan to form five lo Betikama en later mi tufala waka lo govman en lo Prime
Minister’s ofis en mi savve gud lo wei blo hem. Wei blo hem, hem no savve
chenisim nao….. lo taem lo PM ofis, hem savve kam wetem aedia wea hem savve hem
wrong, bat bae hem trae fo twistim… if iu talem hem hem wrong, bae hem go an
leita kam bak wetem sem aedia bat bae hem putim lo diferen wei moa… hem na wei
blo boss yah”.
English:
“Gordon is a smart
conman and a good manipulator. We attended school together at Betikama
Seventh-Day Adventist High School (now College) from form one to form five. We
later worked alongside each other at the Prime Minister’s Office, when he was
the Permanent Secretary of Finance. I know him very well. His doggy ways of
dealing have never changed. He would come with an idea that was not the right
thing to do, but if he was told that it was not the right way of dealing with
it, he would go away and later returned with the same idea, but arranged in a
different way. This is Lilo’s way of dealing business”.
- The above abstract was taken from a conversation with one of Gordon Darcy Lilo’s former school and work mates at Betikama Adventist High School (now College) and the Prime Minister’s Office in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
Lilo’s background
Gordon Darcy Lilo
is from Ghatere Village, Kolobangara Island, Western Province. Before entering
politics, Lilo came into the national scene in the mid-1990s, when the then
Prime Minister, late Solomon Mamaloni, plucked him out of obscurity as a non-senior
public servant of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, to become a senior
bureaucrat and Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Finance. At that
time, it was assumed that Lilo and the late Mamaloni were good friends and
regulars of the casino social scene in Honiara. Back then, the Mamaloni
government was embroiled in a number of controversial cases of systematic
corruption that was allegedly aided by the logging and casino industries.
Demonstrators took to the streets of Honiara demanding the immediate resignation of the newly elected Prime Minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo.
The problem of corruption within the government machinery and public institutions in Solomon Islands over the years was highlighted by a motion of no-confidence that successfully removed the Francis Billy Hilly-led government in 1994. It was reported that the motion was bankrolled by the logging industry, which had allegedly bribed three government Ministers, Francis Orodani, Alfred Maetia and Alan Paul, to quit their portfolios and join the Parliamentary Opposition in removing the government. As a reward for their role in removing the government, Maetia, Orodani and Paul, supposedly received financial inducements, hotel accommodation and rental cars, from the logging industry and one of its major clients, Robert Goh Chartered Accountant.
The downfall of the
Billy Hilly-led government was triggered by a Logging Bill, which was successfully
passed in parliament. The main features of the bill were: (1) phasing out of major
logging operations throughout the country by the end of 1997, (2) reducing the
number of logging licences by 50%, (3) establishing downgrade processing of round
logs locally and (4) introducing new logging levies, which became effective in 1994.
As a good friend of
the late Solomon Mamaloni, Lilo was appointed on the basis of his loyalty to
the former prime minister. He became the number one “go to man”, which the
government had entrusted to carry out its dirty deals. Following few years in
the job, he was rewarded by the government with an AusAid scholarship to study
Developmental Administration at the Australian National University (ANU),
Canberra, where he successfully completed and graduated with a MA.
Lilo returned to
the Solomon Islands in the late 1990s and briefly re-joined the Ministry of
Finance. But his brief stint was entangled in yet another controversy, in which
he was reported to have been the last person seen leaving the Ministry of
Finance building in the early hours of the day in which a fire destroyed
government filing systems and computers. A police investigation into the fire
went cold, leaving the case unresolved till today.
Lilo’s logging connection
Lilo’s career in
the logging industry began in 1999, when he established a logging company
called, Viuru Development Trust (VDT). The company began in controversial
circumstances due to strong opposition from landowning groups. Despite
increasing hostility and resentment from local landowners, Lilo’s company began
logging, under the chairmanship of James Rizu, who at that time was also
working as a Senior Water and Sanitation Health Inspector of Western Province.
The ethnic conflict
in Solomon Islands during 2000 and 2001 greatly impacted the logging operations
undertaken by the Viuru Development Trust. As one of the managing directors,
Lilo was accused along with his chairman, Rizu, of failure to pay the logging
royalties owed to local landowners. In the 2001 national election, Lilo
contested and won the parliamentary seat of Gizo-Kolobangara, Western Province,
from its former holder, Jackson Piasi, a lawyer and anti-logger and strong
advocator of good governance.
Following the
election, Lilo’s opponents allegedly accused him of vote-buying. It was alleged
that Lilo made a secret agreement with Earthmovers Logging Company, a Malaysian
logging company, with huge logging concessions in Guadalcanal, Isabel, Makira,
and Western provinces, to support his candidacy. As part of the deal, the Earthmovers
bank-rolled Lilo’s election campaign with an undisclosed amount of money,
rumoured to be in the tens of thousands of dollars. The money was distributed
to voters at the eve of the election. Since then, it has been alleged that
Lilo’s supporters, who have consistently requested financial help from him,
would often as directed by Lilo, meet him at either inside or outside of the
office of Earthmovers, where he would give them money.
Despite the
controversies over Lilo’s ongoing alleged under table dealings, he successfully
retained his parliamentary seat in the 2006 and 2011 national general
elections. Over the past eight years, Lilo has been appointed and re-appointed
as a government minister of finance by four successive governments. It is also
alleged that during the past three national elections, Lilo’s political
campaigns have been bankrolled by Earth Movers and other Asian logging
companies. Additionally, since Lilo became a politician, Earthmovers logging
company’s interests have been well protected.
The appointing of a
Malaysian national and Earthmovers Managing Director, to various positions on
the board of directors of a number of different government statutory
authorities, including the National Provident Fund (NPF), has embroiled him in
further controversy.
Lilo’s alleged
corruption cases
Police provided security at Parliament house during the election proceeding of the PM
In 2010, as a logger and former Minister of Finance in the Dr Sikua-led government, Lilo was yet involved in another controversy involving his release of an Earthmover’s tug-boat, which was currently held under police custody, for its involvement in illegal activities. When ordered to pay $2m by the High Court of Solomon Islands for illegal activities, Lilo, intervened, ordering the release of the boat with a fine of a mere $200,00, claiming that the Earthmover’ Company will continue to pay millions in government taxes. Despite the unprecedented nature of the case, the then Prime Minister. Dr Derek Sikua, and his cabinet bowed down to Lilo’s decision.
But Lilo’s under table dealings did not end there. Other allegations of corruption also surfaced when as the then Minister of Finance in the Sogavare-led government in 2006/7, Lilo was accused of misappropriation of multi-million dollar aid funds, which were donated by foreign governments and aid donors to rebuild infrastructures and entire villages in the Western Province, devastated by the 2007 tsunami. The funds were intended to provide immediate relief shelter, food, water whilst providing financial aid in the rebuilding of the township and provincial capital of the Western Province, Gizo. At the same time, Lilo was also accused of fraud over a government multi-million-dollar computer school project, which he was coordinating as the Minister responsible. Initial reports alleged that Lilo, subcontracted an IT firm owned by one of his relatives, Anthony Gona, to deliver the project. Allegations were raised that the IT firm had ordered second-hand computers; way below market values but with inflated costs and distributed them to a few schools, less than the ones earmarked to benefit from the whole project.
The failure of the IT
firm to deliver the project and the apparent non-action by Lilo, who has
been a Minister of Finance in the past two successive executive governments has
prompted a number of former and current leaders and backbenchers of the
Parliamentary Opposition, to call upon the government to either establish
commission of enquiries into the alleged cases of corruption or initiate Police
investigations. But despite the calls, successive governments have refused to
take action.
One of the difficulties in carrying out an investigation into the above alleged corrupt cases have been partly due to the presence of Lilo as a Minister of Finance in the past three successive executive governments. The only probe into the tsunami funds was carried up by the Auditor General Office few years ago, but the report has been vetoed by the past and now the newly elected Prime Minister, Lilo, from publication, citing various dubious government provisions. As such, the chances of investigating corruption cases within the current government system are now looking remotely unlikely to happen anytime soon. In recent days, the Acting Commissioner of Police, Walter Kola, has weighed into the debate and claimed that the Prime Minister has no case to answer.
One of the difficulties in carrying out an investigation into the above alleged corrupt cases have been partly due to the presence of Lilo as a Minister of Finance in the past three successive executive governments. The only probe into the tsunami funds was carried up by the Auditor General Office few years ago, but the report has been vetoed by the past and now the newly elected Prime Minister, Lilo, from publication, citing various dubious government provisions. As such, the chances of investigating corruption cases within the current government system are now looking remotely unlikely to happen anytime soon. In recent days, the Acting Commissioner of Police, Walter Kola, has weighed into the debate and claimed that the Prime Minister has no case to answer.
Meanwhile, since
2005, Lilo’s logging interests in the island of Kolobangara have also come
under closer scrutiny by tribal land owning groups, one of which has taken a High
Court injunction against Lilo’s logging operations. Despite the Court case, the
newly elected Prime Minister’s logging interests have been expanded to three
logging concessions in Kolobangara Island, with a fourth one in Rendova Island.
According to a source close to the tribal group, the land owning group had claimed
that Lilo’s logging concessions were acquired illegally and included areas that
are not his. In the traditional history of Ghatere village, Lilo’s maternal family
comes from a non-landowning group. His father is from Rendova, where the former
Prime Minister, Danny Philip, is originally from.
Philip, Rini and Lilo's family values
Former Prime
Minister Danny Philip (now back bencher), and his former Minister of Planning
and Aid Coordination, Snyder Rini (reappointed), and former Finance Minister
and now newly elected Prime Minister, Gordon Darcy Lilo, are said to be
relatives. The trio were former graduates of Betikama Seventh-Day Adventist High
School in the 1970s and 1980s. Currently, they are non-practicing members of
the Seventh-Day Church. Lilo, Philip and Rini, have either divorced or
separated from their first wives. Philip has been living in de facto relationships
with women from the Western Province, Rennell and Bellona, Samoa and now
Kiribati-Solomon Islander; while Rini initially married a woman from Papua New
Guinea (PNG) and now is with an ethnic Malaitan woman, Alice, while the newly
elected Prime Minister is with a second partner.
1 comment:
Interesting Article Duran that is both very insightful and tactful for the sake of the common people.
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