The Ombudsman Commission conducted an own investigation on 7 January 2020 on the awarding of the citizenship status to Hon.Justin Tkatchenko MP Member for Port Moresby-South on whether was done lawfully in full compliance with the requirements of the law.
The investigation was carried out pursuant to Section 219 of the Constitution and Section 13 of the Organic Law on the Ombudsman Commission and it was an administrative investigation made against the Papua New Guinea Immigration and Citizenship Authority (PNGICA) on allegations that it had improperly granted citizenship by naturalization to Hon.Justin Tkatchenko MP (the leader).
It was alleged that there was no Citizenship Advisory Committee between the years 1999 and 2009 and that the awarding of citizenship to the leader may have been done unlawfully and outside of the requirements of the law.
The investigation was carried out purposely to ascertain whether the awarding of citizenship by PNGICA to the leader was done by the requirements set out under Section 67 (Citizenship by naturalization) of the Constitution the Citizenship Act and the Citizenship Regulation. During the investigation, the Ombudsman Commission wrote to the PNGICA, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigration, the Department of Justice and Attorney General, the Government Printing Office, the National Archives and the Public Record Services. The Commission had also written to the leader who was the person of interest in the investigation to verify the evidence it had collected through the investigation.
The investigation reveals that there was a Citizenship Advisory Committee that was established which was in existence between the years 1999 and 2009 and the leader submitted a citizenship application in 2002 where the Committee convened then and granted him citizenship accordingly in 2006. The investigation further reveals that Justin Tkatchenko came to Papua New Guinea on 13 December 1999 from Australia and lived in the country for nine (9) years before applying for citizenship in 2002. He submitted his application in 2002 and it was acknowledged by PNGICA in 2003 the actual citizenship was granted in 2006 after he had met all the requirements of the law on the awarding of citizenship by naturalization.
The investigation finally concludes that the PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority had lawfully issued the Citizenship status to Hon Justin Tkatchenko on 6 October 2006 after having complied with the eligibility requirements stipulated under Section 67 (Citizenship by naturalization) of the Constitution and in accordance with the other administrative requirements set out by the Citizenship Act and the Citizenship Regulation and that the leader had also surrendered his Australian Citizenship forthwith thereafter.