Government sources said the cabinet made the decision to suspend Yasause from office pending a full-scale investigation into operations of the office.
The cabinet made the decision last Friday based on a submission by Public Service Minister Peter O’Neill.
O’Neill is away in Abu Dhabi, representing the government on official business, and could not be reached for comments.
But government sources said the decision was made by the cabinet, and a formal announcement was pending.
The secretary for the Department of Environment and Conservation, Dr. Wari Iamo, will be the acting director-general of the OCCES.
Acting secretary for the Department of Personnel Management, John Kali, will head an inter-government agency team to conduct the full-scale investigation that will look into all aspects of this office and its operations since it was established.
Recently, the media revealed allegations that the OCCES had been selling carbon trading projects to a number of overseas companies without having any policy or legislative framework in place to do so.
Since then, there have been calls for Yasause to step down for an inquiry into all these allegations.
Even Kevin Conrad, the PNG ambassador of climate change based in New York, had expressed concern about the way the office was conducting itself regarding carbon trade.
In a recent conference of governors, it was resolved the OCCES and its head be referred to the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee for an investigation into its affairs. This referral is pending.
