Papua New Guinea police are seeking the return of nearly 300 imported cars loaned to officials for driving world leaders around its capital during last year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting, a commander said on Tuesday.
Two hundred and eighty-four cars have yet to be returned to the government’s State Asset Recovery Unit, including Toyota LandCruisers, Fords, Mazdas and Mitsubishi Pajeros. However, all the luxury Maseratis and Bentleys, which were purchased controversially ahead of the summit, have been tracked down and recovered, authorities said.
“There are 284 vehicles ... that were issued to personnel to use during Apec that haven’t been returned as yet,” said superintendent Dennis Corcoran, who heads the state asset recovery unit.
“All 40 of the Maseratis and the three Bentleys are in top condition and locked away in the old wharf shed down on the main wharf,” said Corcoran.
The purchase of the cars used for the summit in November was one of the most controversial aspects of Papua New Guinea’s hosting of the event.
The fleet included 40 luxury Maserati Quattroporte sedans and three super-luxury Bentley Flying Spurs, each costing more than $200,000, despite the country struggling with a nationwide polio outbreak, increased rates of tuberculosis and chronic funding shortages for health, education and other services.
The purchase prompted thousands of people to protest throughout Papua New Guinea, with opposition MPs calling the purchase “blatant fraud”.
Corcoran said PNG police knew that nine cars were stolen, parts had gone missing and some of the returned cars were “pretty seriously damaged”.
The South Pacific archipelago of 7.3 million people pulled out all the stops at the Apec summit, hoping to put itself on the world map and lure investment. Aid money poured in from China and Australia to prepare for the event.
But images of the Maseratis being unloaded at the airport, even as the government grappled with a polio outbreak, that proved a lightning rod for public anger.
Government spokesman Chris Hawkins said a global event had to be hosted properly, and added that many of the vehicles not yet returned were either in government lots or being used by paramedics, firefighters and other public servants.
Police believe six of the nine stolen cars are still around Port Moresby, while three have found their way to Mount Hagen, in the country’s rugged highlands. Corcoran was confident of finding them because he has a master list of who signed them out.
“Basically, I know where all 284 vehicles that I’ve got to collect are,” he said.
• This article was amended on 13 February 2019 because an earlier version misnamed the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation as the Asia-Pacific Economic Corporation. This has been corrected.
