Deve said the letter could have been written by someone in PNG who had a personal vendetta against the named officers and it was “definitely not from the Solomon Islands.”
“We discussed the content of the letter and at face value, the letter is definitely not from here because it contains many discrepancies,” he said.
“It is also not a matter of priority right now because we realize the letter could never have been written in SI,” he added.
Deve earlier denied that he had written to PNG Foreign Affairs Secretary Gabriel Pepson last October complaining about large amounts of cash being used to allow a blacklisted Solomon Islander to enter PNG.
He also denied the letter’s contents and said he could not have written the one-page letter which contained several flaws because he was on study leave in New Zealand at the time and only returned home last Dec 20.
Deve, who only resumed duties last Monday as director of Solomon Islands immigration, said the letter not only incorrectly gave him the title of director general but also had the wrong postal address on the letterhead and the division title was also incorrect.
Several PNG immigration officials were named in the letter, including chief migration officer Joseph Nobetau, who last week, said he could not recall ever writing to the Solomons immigration division, lifting a ban on the blacklisted Solomon Islander.
He said the division had deported the Solomon Islander after trying for almost four years to get rid of him because of numerous brushes with the law and there was no way they wanted him back in the country.
“We have alerted all ports of entry and they are on high alert not to allow this guy back into the country; so why should we go back on our word when we have been trying so hard to get rid of him?” Nobetau asked.
