PNG's PM nephew 'pushing carbon deals'

A nephew of Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Michael Somare is accused of pressuring remote villagers to sign away their land for carbon deals despite there being no carbon trade laws in place.

Documents obtained by AAP show Pacific Carbon Trade has been offering villagers carbon deals throughout Somare's home province of East Sepik, in PNG's northwest.

Pacific Carbon's Eric Komang, the prime minister's nephew, has been promoting a five-page Memorandum of Agreement that includes a breakdown of revenue where landowners receive 48 per cent royalties.

A councillor from the area said Pacific Carbon operators last week were urging landowners to sign the contracts.

"They approach the councillors and tell them to tell their people to sign," he told AAP.

"Basically the forms are to sign land rights away to do carbon trading," he said.

"But the thing is you speak to landowners and they think they're setting up a deal to suck oxygen from the trees to create a big tank in the west," he said.

Pacific Carbon partner Ted Taru told AAP in Port Moresby that he had not spoken to Komang for over a month.

"We have been making no promises to landowners as we, like everyone, are waiting to see what happens at the Copenhagen climate change meeting in December," he said.

"Any agreement would be more like a list of potential clients when everything is in place for projects," he said.

Taru said some landowners signing deals were not necessarily being duped.

"These guys may live in the bush but they've wised up after years of being ripped off.

"In some cases they make numerous similar deals, so, as those in PNG know, landowners aren't always that naïve or innocent," he said.

A spokeswoman from Somare's office said the company had no connection to the prime minister.

"He can claim all he likes but he is wasting his time as there is no regulatory policy or legislation for carbon trading in PNG," she said.

Earlier this week, PNG's Office of Climate Change director Dr Theo Yasause was suspended for a raft of carbon deals his signature appeared on despite no policy or legislation being in place.

Last month AAP reported that conmen travelling near Popondetta, in Oro province on the northwest coast, had sold 500 villagers fake carbon trading deals by promising big returns from "sky money".