Organised Crime, Corruption and Integrity in Papua New Guinea
2025
A frontline view of PNG's challenge
As the inaugural Deputy Commissioner (Operations & Technical Services) of Papua New Guinea's Independent Commission Against Corruption, Daniel Baulch worked at the centre of the country's fight against corruption and organised crime. In this EMTV Infocus interview he sets out both the scale of the problem and the practical path forward.
His message is direct: corruption and organised crime are not abstractions in PNG — they cripple the economy, undermine public confidence and erode the justice system, and confronting them has to be a whole-of-country effort.
Money laundering and asset recovery
A recurring theme is the movement of money. Organised crime and corruption depend on the ability to launder proceeds and move them across borders, which is why anti-money-laundering capability and asset recovery matter so much. Coordinated action — domestically and with international partners — is what turns investigations into results.
Daniel has engaged international bodies including the United Nations, the OECD, the IMF, the Asian Development Bank and the FATF on exactly these issues.
Building institutions that last
Individual cases matter, but Daniel's emphasis is on institutions: integrity systems that are practical, evidence-based and independent enough to outlast any single leader or investigation. That is how a country moves from reacting to scandals to preventing them.
It is a lesson that travels well beyond PNG.