Laundering cases in PNG enforce historic round log export ban

An international financial crackdown is underway in PNG with global intelligence agency INTERPOL and the Financial Analysis and Supervision Unit (FASU) actively investigating four major transnational money laundering cases deeply tied to illegal forestry operations.

This explosive revelations comes as the National Government enforces a strict, historic policy shift: a total ban on the export of round logs overseas, aimed at permanently dismantling the foreign criminal syndicates that have exploited the nation's rainforests for generations.

In an exclusive disclosure to the Post-Courier, FASU Director Wilson Onea confirmed that the expanding inter-agency crackdown has already led to the freezing and closure of more than 100 commercial bank accounts used by illicit operators to siphon wealth out of the country.

“Currently, four cases are being investigated under this inter-agency cooperation framework with technical assistance from INTERPOL”, Mr Onea said.

As law enforcement chokes off the illicit financial lifelines of illegal loggers, the State is rapidly moving to fill the vacuum with a highly structured, legal economic framework.

Speaking at the APEC Haus during the National Forestry Sector engagement, Minister for Forests Salio Waipo defended the government’s decisive transition plan, emphasising that the area of allowing overseas companies to take raw resources and leave citizens with nothing is officially over.

“Our forests have looked after our people and our economy for many years. But we have to look to the future now”, Mr Waipo said.

“Our objective is not merely to implement a policy, but to forge a practical and inclusive path towards a more robust, resilient forestry sector”.