I personally asked current Papua New Guinea's Finance Minister Charles Abel whether he thought getting the Maserati’s in the first place was a bad idea, but he didn’t want to comment.
“I can’t comment on that, they went through different reasons why they couldn’t get certain vehicle, the number in different types, the colors’ and all the reasons that were given.”
But, Mr. Abel- who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time PNG hosted APEC, says the meeting was a success.
“It’s not for me to comment at this time, we have to deal with it, APEC was a success.
Papua New Guinea’s government aims to sell the APEC Maserati's and the Bentley's at prices equivalent to buying two three bedroom kit homes in the country.
The Maserati's are priced at a minimum of K400, 000 while the Bentley's are priced at a minimum of K800,000 when the second tender is out.
Many commentators in PNG politics will be interested to see how many Papua New Guineans will actually buy the vehicles; especially with the state of the country’s roads and impossible to find, spare parts.
But, the country’s Finance department will be putting up new tenders anyway.
“We will put tenders up domestically and internationally,” said Finance Secretary Dr Ken Ngangan.
It's clear the PNG government is hoping international buyers will pick up the vehicles, even though the first tenders put out earlier this year to sell the vehicles was a failure.
Former APEC minister Justin Tkatchenko blames the Finance department for mishandling the first tender process.
“The Finance department didn’t put a public reserve price,” he said.
In October last year, Mr Tkatchenko told the media many had been pre-sold to the private sector, that they would sell like hot cakes.
But, now there is public anger targeted directly at the Australian born PNG politician for what many say are misleading comments.
“Yes, I am not denying it, I said that, I said it… because when we put the word out that the Maserati’s would be sold after APEC the response was overwhelming,” said Mr Tkatchenko.
Since the cars were bought there has been speculation via social media that PNG politicians and APEC senior officials had some how benefited from the vehicles purchase.
One of the most outspoken and critical on the controversy is Police Minister Bryan Kramer, who wrote extensively on his blog ‘Kramer Report’.
When the vehicles were locked up and hidden away from the public, there was speculation again on social media that some have already been sold off secretly.
Mr. Tkatchenko has called on the public to believe the government’s statements.
“Find out the facts, find out the evidence, don’t go by hearsay, it may come back and hit you in the mouth,” said Mr. Tkatchenko.
The PNG government has never revealed how much it has spent on APEC, although, the O'Neill government has maintained the funds of some K330 million was allocated in the national budget to be spent over three years.
A report on it has been delayed by an investigation that’s being carried out by the Ombudsman Commission.
The current Finance Minister Charles Abel said the report is now with the country’s Auditor-General.
“He is independent, I can’t dictate to him, we just want that process to be expedited and we will offer him every support that we can to make that happen.”
Critics have accused the government of spending money on expensive cars, while failing to deliver basic services for its people.
