PNG cabinet told $1.2b UBS loan was illegal

A $1.2 billion loan extended by the Sydney office of UBS to Papua New Guinea in 2014 bypassed the usual cabinet and parliamentary procedures and was opposed by at least four senior ministers, a royal commission into the costly deal heard yesterday.

In his opening day of evidence, former PNG prime minister Peter O’Neill, who championed the deal, told the inquiry he regarded the transaction as “urgent” and said it was not feasible to put all such “loans and borrowings” through Parliament.