Sydney:

Papua New Guinea’s influential petroleum minister has been charged with assault following a “domestic dispute” near Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach, Australian police said Sunday.

Jimmy Maladina, a crucial player in ongoing international negotiations over a lucrative natural gas project, was arrested on Saturday morning.

Police said they found a “31-year-old woman with facial injuries” after they were called to an address near Bondi, allegedly sustained in an “altercation” with Maladina.

Maladina is listed to appear in a Sydney court on Thursday, court documents show, and has been charged with “assault occasioning actual bodily harm”.

The 58-year-old said in a statement he was “committed to handling this situation with integrity and transparency”.

Papua New Guinea’s vast and untapped deposits of natural gas have attracted considerable interest from foreign prospectors.

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