The money reportedly should have been used to upgrade Parliament House. It came after an embarrassing fall from a chair by Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare earlier this month.
Speaker Jeffery Nape told Parliament he will take recreational leave to allow PNG auditors to check how public funds were spent under his leadership.
He has pledged to make public his personal assets and how he got money to build a residence in the PNG capital Port Moresby. It follows allegations millions of dollars have been misused since he was elected speaker twice, after the 2002 and 2007 national elections.
Sir Michael Somare’s incident with an old chair in Parliament came during a meeting with senior business executives. He was about to sign agreements involving potentially lucrative gas and petroleum deals, when his chair collapsed beneath him.
PNG parliamentary members have been constantly complaining of old and broken furniture, faulty air-conditioning, rotting floors, smelly carpets, and leaking toilets.
