Eremas Wartoto is a

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

n businessman, based in

Kokopo Kokopo is the capital of East New Britain Province in Papua New Guinea. It is administered under Kokopo-Vunamami Urban LLG. The capital was moved from Rabaul in 1994 when the volcanoes Tavurvur and Vulcan erupted. As a result, the population of ...

, PNG. He founded the airline Travel Air, based in

Madang Madang (old German name: ''Friedrich-Wilhelmshafen'') is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 (in 2005) on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century. Histor ...

, PNG, and is part of the Sarakolok West Transport (SWT) Group, owned by Wartoto. Travel Air flies from Hoskins, Lae, Madang, Mt. Hagen, Port Moresby and Rabaul. Wartoto is currently in Australia and is the Chief Executive of Travel Car Australia Pty Ltd.

Controversies

Ahead of the launch of Travel Air in July 2011, allegations were made by the media in PNG that parliamentarian

Paul Tiensten Paul Tiensten (born 1966) is a former Papua New Guinean politician and former National Alliance Member of Parliament for Pomio Open. Tiensten is currently serving a nine-year sentence for corruption. Tiensten holds a bachelor's degree from the U ...

had assisted with illegally financing the company by giving K10 million to Wartoto. Wartoto had purchased four airplanes with the funds. Wartoto confirmed he had received K10 million for Travel Air but stated that in 2010 his company had applied for a subsidy from the government budget, amounting to 10 per cent of the K100 million investment Wartoto had planned to make in transport infrastructure based out of Madang. Wartoto said “We appreciate the government’s vision to at least subsidise 10 per cent of that investment.” Wartoto threatened to sue those involved in the media attacks, including the Post Courier, a newspaper, and the Ombudsman Commission. Further, in September 2011, he filed a Judicial Review application in the National Court at Waigani over police questioning him about the alleged misappropriation of K10 million air freight subsidy. Wartoto was arrested in August 2011 and charged in relation to the misappropriation of K7 million intended for the renovation of Kerevat National High School. Wartoto is currently out on a K5,000 bail but is allegedly “reluctant” to return to PNG. Wartoto’s lawyers stated that he was in Cairns for medical treatment after suffering hypertension and being seriously fatigued. A Papua New Guinea corruption Task Force has put 33 prominent citizens on a watch list, including Eremas Wartoto and several politicians, telling the national airline to monitor their travel. On 17 January 2012, Timothy Rowland, the General Manager of SWT, owned by Wartoto, was arrested by the PNG Task Force Sweep amid a corruption investigation into PNG’s planning department. SWT are alleged to have tried to extort $4.5 million from the Manus provincial government by selling it a boat that had already been paid for by the National Planning Department.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wartoto, Eremas Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Papua New Guinean businesspeople