narrative narrative The NHC Sell-Off Syndicate For decades the National Housing Corporation (NHC) has operated a racket, illegally selling off the national housing stock to business people, politicians and senior civil servants. Fraud, violence and intimidation is used to evict tenants and their families. The NHC’s public mandate is set out in the National Housing Corporation Act 1990. It states…

…business involved in merchandising and construction. In October 2014, the company secured a court judgement against the National Housing Estates Limited and the National Housing Corporation in the sum of K4,879,263. Neither NHEL or NHC paid the judgement debt despite numerous demands and attempts to follow up over several years. So, in June 2017, Niugini Building Supplies served a statutory…

…in his name and was issued to him, Kiiark claims, after he purchased the property from the National Housing Corporation in January 2014. At that time Norit Luio was the NHC’s tenant at the property. Luio claims he also has a State Lease registered in his name. His lease, Volume 88 Folio 183 was registered in October 2017 following, Luio…

…Moresby City Development Enterprises Limited’s closure. Durand Farm Reboot with Failed Aussie Builder In 2014 the O’Neill government announced it would revive Durand Farm as a major development site for affordable housing. The project would be overseen by the NHC, and the NHC’s private investment arm, National Housing Estate Limited (NHEL). Both the NHC and NHEL have been deeply impacted…

…government has proven much more forgiving. Paga Hill Development Company (PNG) Limited has been allowed to retain their lease over Paga Hill, at a discounted rate of rent. This generous posture allowed the company to forcefully evict NHC residents at Paga Hill, along with communities along the harbour foreshore. Many of the demolished homes notably lay outside the state lease…

…body responsible for building and maintaining public housing stock). NHEL was to operate on a commercial orientation, and take hold of many NHC properties. For years it operated under a blanket of fiscal secrecy, while allegations reverberated around on impropriety within. PNGi raised the alarm about various irregular deals NHEL was a party to. Then last week a new NHEL…

…Justice Gavara-Nanu of acting in a ‘fraudulent and deceitful’ manner, after the NHC illicitly snatched the Iravela family home. Image: Dege used fraud and deceit the courts claim, in an attempt to sell off the Iravela family home. While Justice Canning accused the former NHC Managing Director of ‘sinister’ activity for his role in executing an attempted fraud. If successful…

…NHE Ltd is no more and John Dege and some of his cohorts are now under arrest. We wait to see if these developments signal broader changes in behaviour at the NHC. Perhaps the most infamous case of land fraud to hit the headlines in 2018 was the Manu Manu land scandals. The central role played by Ministers William Duma…

…new allegations of abuse to find their way into the National Court system. The NHC Fraud Surveyor Vaki Vailala and his family have lived at their National Housing Corporation (NHC) home in Hanu Place, Boroko, since 1994. The NHC had offered to sell the property to them on a number of occasions. The Vailala family accepted. But the NHC failed…

…the Lands Secretary signed off on the contract of sale and the transfer instrument for the sale between NHC and Remdy Investment Limited. On 24 March 2015, NHC Managing Director John Dege wrote to the Lands Secretary requesting he sign the contract of sale and transfer instrument, for the sale between the NHC and Remdy Investment Limited. It is unclear…

…to the NHC. The NHC was not intended to be an outlaw organisation. The NHC conducts business with violence and brutality, like any outlaw organisation. Take this example, which occurred on 23 February 2013. Under the leadership of its Managing Director, John Dege, the NHC violently evicted legal tenants resident in its North Waigani apartment complex. The government released K30,000…

…a modest property. He was a legal tenant, who had paid his rent. In 2006 and 2008 , the NHC offered to sell Vaki the family home. On both occasions Vaki accepted. The NHC failed to execute the agreement. As the ageing civil servant approach retirement in 2012, Vaki asked the NHC to follow up on the agreements reached in…

…began on 9 February 2015. Remdy Investment Limited wrote to the NHC, offering to purchase the Boroko property for K380,000. A week later on 16 February 2015, the NHC’s Managing Director John Dege, offered the property to Remdy Investment for K512,050. This offer was made under the NHC’s ‘Outright Cash Sales Scheme’, a programme that appears to have been abused…

…wind NHEL up. Notably its Directors have been “terminated forthwith”, that includes Kevin Ahipum, Michael Barobe, Luke Karepe and John Witne. The remaining staff will be absorbed back into the NHC. At least some sanity has prevailed, with the government deciding to liquidate the company and reabsorb its functions back into the NHC. Of course, we dont know the motivations…

…NHC North Waigani block was permitted to fall into disrepair, while security did nothing to stop squatters. 1246 1247 2 http://api.pngicentral.org/app/uploads/2018/02/1224-nhc-north-waigani-disrepair.zip NHC’s Questionable Integrity Auditor General Findings Auditor General Findings First, lets turn to the private arm of the NHC – the National Housing Estate Limited. The report card in this respect is short and sharp. The Auditor General notes:…

…blog, ‘O’Neill backs up his lies with extreme violence,’ public statement, 31 July 2017, accessed on 2 September 2017 [2] In August 2017, the new housing Minister John Kaupa directed a major audit to be done by the office of the Auditor-General of both NHC and NHEL. “They are numerous court proceedings against NHC, and too many investigations ongoing that…