JUDICIAL TYRANNY: The Salika Scandal, Political Traps and the Hijacking of PNG Justice

By PAUL L. KEBAIJA

The Ombudsman Commission’s referral of Chief Justice Sir Gibbs Salika to the Public Prosecutor for alleged misconduct in office has detonated a constitutional crisis. For the first time in PNG’s history, the head of the judiciary stands accused of breaching the Leadership Code by failing to declare massive extra income. The figures are stark: over K1.6 million received by Sir Gibbs between 2017 and 2024, plus more than K465,000 allegedly hidden by his wife. These are not minor omissions. They point to systemic corruption that has turned the courts into instruments of private enrichment.

The money trail allegedly runs through the Chief Justice’s own family. His daughter, Mrs Gloria Salika, is accused of acting as the middleman receiving funds from high-level politicians, depositing them in her accounts, then transferring the proceeds to her mother. This is the classic architecture of money laundering and bribery. When the head of the judiciary’s household becomes a clearing house for undisclosed political cash, the separation between justice and commerce collapses. Sir Gibbs must now explain every kina his family received and why none of it appeared in his annual leadership returns.

The political dimension makes the scandal far more dangerous. Hela Governor Philip Undialu is alleged to have set a financial trap that the Chief Justice walked into, fatally compromising his independence. These matters were raised during the Jacob Yafai trial last year but were brushed aside as political point-scoring. Yafai, the former Deputy Finance Secretary, was convicted and sentenced by Sir Gibbs himself in the National Court over the release of public funds to Paul Paraka lawyers. The public saw bias. The Finance Minister of the day was barely touched. Key signed letters were not properly tested. Only Yafai carried the full weight of blame.

Now Yafai’s appeal sits before the Supreme Court. The timing of the Ombudsman referral is no accident. Prime Minister James Marape and Governor Undialu waited until after the conviction before moving against the Chief Justice. The calculation is cold: sacrifice Sir Gibbs to protect the Marape-Rosso government and the wider judiciary from deeper scrutiny. In return, the next Chief Justice possibly appointed in an urgent Judicial and Legal Services Commission meeting will understand the new rules. The message to the bench is unmistakable: deliver the “right” outcome on the Yafai appeal, and your career is secure. Scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

Undialu’s own alleged bribery of court officers remains unresolved. A Hela Provincial Government cheque reportedly paid directly to Mr Peter Wagia to influence judicial staff has stalled because the Chief Magistrate has been reluctant to endorse the necessary search warrant. The fraud squad’s investigation sits frozen. This is not coincidence; it is protection.

The referral of Sir Gibbs is merely the visible tip. The real power players Marape and Undialu have already hollowed out the Police, sidelined the Ombudsman Commission, neutered ICAC, and are now tightening their grip on the judiciary. When the highest judicial officer can be politically neutralised while his own court is used to settle scores, the rule of law becomes theatre.

PNG citizens are not fooled. They watched a senior bureaucrat take the fall while bigger players escaped scrutiny. They now watch the same forces that secured Yafai’s conviction manoeuvre to control the appeal and choose the next Chief Justice. This is judicial tyranny in real time: justice bought, appeals managed, and the head of the judiciary sacrificed to keep the system obedient.

Sir Gibbs Salika must tell the full truth about every kina that entered his family’s accounts. The Public Prosecutor and any eventual Leadership Tribunal must follow the evidence without fear or favour. Anything less confirms that in Papua New Guinea today, the courts no longer belong to the people they belong to those who can pay, threaten, or politically destroy.