Peter Yama (born 12 December 1955) is a businessman and

Papua New Guinean Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

politician. He was the former governor for

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. History Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai was probably the first Eur ...

Province from 2017-2022. Previously he was Member of Parliament for Usino Bundi between 1994–1997 and 2002-2007. In 2003 he succeeded

Peter O'Neill Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. He has been a Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pangia since 2002. He was a fo ...

as the Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations under Prime Minister

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the " father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

. Prior to this, he was appointed Minister for Transport and Works in 1996. He was briefly

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...

in 2004. Yama is the head of Yama Security Services Ltd, which is a subsidiary of his Yama Group of companies. He has an extensive property portfolio and owns the Smugglers Inn hotel in

Controversies

Yama was referred to the

Public Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

in July 1997 amid allegations of misconduct which included, "improper application and failure to acquit EDF and other public funds, conflict of interest, using his position to obtain private a icbank loan and attempting to purchase 2 ships from the government below market price". The matter was then referred to a

leadership tribunal Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...

, which investigates alleged cases of misconduct by ministers and senior public officials, and which recommended the dismissal of Yama from his office in December 2004. This decision was ultimately overturned in February 2005 due to insufficient evidence on the majority of the counts. Yama was, however, fined K1000 for having been biased in his distribution of PGK1.6 million under the Rural Transport Development Program to his then Sumkar electorate. In 2002 Yama issued a complaint against the State for PGK38.7 million, alleging that he had been prevented access to a piece of land leased to him in 1988. Attorney General Zacchary Gelu awarded Yama a PGK15.5 million Deed of Settlement in compensation for lost earnings. However, in 2010 a government Commission of Inquiry found that Yama's claim had been a fraudulent one, as it had failed to comply with mandatory procedural requirements and had been filed in respect of a plot of land that did not exist. The Commission referred Yama for criminal prosecution for making an unlawful claim and ordered that civil action be taken against Yama for unpaid land rentals to the effect of PGK61,015. In December 2009, Yama was awarded PGK7.6 million in a case against

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for breach of contract. However,

Bank of South Pacific BSP Financial Group Limited (BSP) is the largest bank in Papua New Guinea, with 121 branches throughout the country and in 7 countries. BSP currently services over 650,000 business banking customers throughout the Pacific. As at 31 December 2022, ...

(BSP) attempted to secure this money, claiming that Yama had outstanding debts. Yama denied that he had any existing debts with BSP and brought charges of fraud against the bank. Two

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executives at BSP were subsequently arrested as a consequence of this action. The executives, Robin Fleming and John Maddison, were subsequently released on bail. Australian law firm Gadens Lawyers, which represented BSP in the court action against Yama, were forced to withdraw their involvement in the case following physical threats to their legal team by armed groups in Port Moresby.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yama, Peter Living people 1955 births Governors of Madang Province Leaders of the opposition (Papua New Guinea) Members of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Government ministers of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinean businesspeople