THE Attorney General’s Chambers has provided update on the investigation into the 33 bauxite shipments from Rennell Island uncovering years of missing, incomplete and unaccounted records.
This covers exports by Asia Pacific Investment Development Ltd (APID) and Bintan Mining SI Ltd.
The update on the investigations indicated records that should have been safeguarded by the very administration that presided over these exports.
The findings are as follows;
• Consignment permit records are missing or incomplete for 2019, 2020 and 2021, despite confirmed exports continuing through those years.
• The unpaid royalties were from the 33 shipments between 2019 and 2020 and not from 2017 to the beginning of 2019 as initially alleged.
• To date, about 11 consignment permits from the 33 shipments in 2019 and 2020 have been discovered.
• CBSI have no records of payment by APID or BMSI of the 33 shipments between 2019 and 2020, although APID/BMSI alleged in their correspondence to the Ministry of Mines that payments have been made.
• No Memorandum of Understanding or supporting correspondence for these exports has been found anywhere in government files.
• Not a single refinery certificate or assay report has been located, meaning no independently verifiable record exists of what was actually being shipped out of the country or its true value.
• Customs documentation is incomplete with further records still unaccounted for.
• No legal advice or correspondence from the Attorney General’s Chambers of the day can be found on this matter.
• The general authority or approvals that should have been issued by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands for these exports were never obtained by the Ministry; they simply are not on file.
The statement adds investigations also found that there is no written justification, directive, or legal opinion anywhere in government records explaining why permits kept being issued year after year.
“When officers who held office at the time were asked directly, not one could produce documentary evidence or a credible explanation,” the statement said
It adds this is not bureaucratic misfortune.
However, it is the documented record of a mineral sector that the previous governments allowed to operate for years without the basic paperwork accountability requires.
“Permits issued with no justification on file, royalties and export volumes with no independent verification and a paper trail that simply stops.”
Nevertheless, investigations continue and officials dealing with this matter will be called into question.
