‘Forged’ and ‘fake’: PNG sport, business supremo hits out at corruption concerns

The oil and gas boss who led Papua New Guinea’s bid for a National Rugby League franchise has blasted corruption concerns about his business dealings as “baseless claims” designed to discredit the country’s historic admission to the Australian competition.

Wapu Sonk stepped down as a director on Friday from the incoming team’s board at the request of PNG Prime Minister James Marape, after this masthead uncovered suspect dealings between the Sonk-led Kumul Petroleum Holdings and a Chinese government-controlled entity over the upgrade of a PNG port.

Wapu Sonk was a driving force in delivering an NRL team to Papua New Guinea.Credit: Facebook

Marape said at the weekend that he ordered an investigation after a letter emerged from March this year from Australian-born Kumul Petroleum project manager Jason Pollock to the Chinese company directing it to use companies owned by Pollock and Sonk.

Sonk is managing director of Kumul Petroleum, PNG’s state-owned energy business and the country’s largest company.

He declined to answer questions put to him last week by this masthead, but in a statement issued on Monday night, he described the letter as “fabricated”.

“These claims are based on false information and the matter is being investigated internally within KPHL and will be referred to the police for investigation,” Sonk said.

The fuel tank project at Motukea.Credit:

“I will ensure all these baseless claims are properly addressed, and that those who falsified documents are properly dealt with through legal channels.”

Sonk said he had stood down from the board of the Albanese government-backed PNG NRL team “to ensure there is no hindrance in progressing our new NRL franchise team forward” and that he would pursue defamation action in Australia to clear his name.

Sonk claimed the letter had been “confirmed” by Pollock “to be fake in its entirety”.

“The letter contains a forged electronic signature not belonging to Mr Pollok [sic] and does not bear the official KPHL letterhead containing the watermark and logo, which contains contact details, office address and other information,” he said. “Very importantly, the letter wasn’t under my name as the managing director.”

Pollock did not deny writing and sending the letter of demand when contacted last week, saying he had in fact “retracted” it when he “saw the error of my ways”.

He told this masthead he had discussed the letter with Sonk, who he said had warned him about conflicts of interest.

Pollock said Sonk had not mentioned that he owned the company to which the Chinese group was instructed to channel engineering, procurement and construction work in the letter.

Pollock replied with an emoji of an angry red face swearing when sent a document demonstrating Sonk’s shareholding in that company, PNG Developments Pty Ltd.

The house in Brisbane that the owner says is tenanted to Wapu Sonk.Credit:

This masthead does not suggest Sonk directed Pollock to send the letter to the Chinese firm, only that the circumstances warrant further scrutiny because of Sonk’s ownership of PNG Developments.

There is also no evidence that the two firms privately owned by Sonk or Pollock ever received any funds or contracts from the Chinese company.

Marape has asked Sonk for a written explanation and demanded a preliminary report by Wednesday, saying it was in PNG’s national interest for the matter to be “resolved quickly, clearly and professionally”.

“We are seeking information to affirm the veracity or correctness of the allegations to decide what course of action to pursue,” Marape said on Tuesday. “Upon Mr Sonk’s return to [the] country I will personally hand-deliver a letter asking him to officially declare his responses in relation to all allegations as entailed.”

In his statement, Sonk also did not address questions about his use of a Brisbane property whose owner has been awarded lucrative contracts by Kumul Petroleum. It was not suggested that the property access was provided as an inducement to Sonk, or that Sonk has sought one.

He said unnamed people were trying to discredit him and Kumul Petroleum, as well as PNG’s historic admission to the NRL in 2028, which the Albanese government is bankrolling to counter Chinese security ambitions.

“These individuals have vested interests whom have generated this fabricated letter using information from within the company,” Sonk said.

“They are people who are seeking to discredit the milestone achievement of fulfilling PNG’s long-held dream of having an NRL team under this government in partnership with the Australian government. They also seek to discredit our work to build a strong national oil and energy company for Papua New Guinea.

“I will ensure my name is cleared … [and] will not allow these individuals to undermine the progressive work we are carrying out with international oil and gas companies in Papua New Guinea.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pushed for the NRL to expand to PNG and agreed to pay for it and the code’s Pacific strategy to fend off Beijing’s attempts to increase its footprint in the region.

The Australian government has committed $600 million over 10 years towards its signature sports diplomacy initiative, with $290 million to go towards the establishment and running of the PNG NRL team, $250 million to be spent on rugby league development in the Pacific and $60 million to be split between existing NRL clubs as a licence fee.

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