‘Be wary of bogus claims’

LABA Holdings chairman Raho Kevau has warned the Department of Petroleum and Energy against making payments to people claiming to represent landowner companies in Central province.
“Laba Holdings is the legitimate business arm of the four villages that will be impacted by the LNG plant,” Mr Kevau said.
He said the shareholders are four landowner companies representing Lealea, Papa, Boera and Porebada.
He said the department must do proper screening and cross check with landowner companies to verify claims before making payments.
Mr Kevau said he had documents to show that executives of a company (named) in Central province had submitted claims worth K3.5 million for consultancy fees, identifying themselves as an umbrella company.
Documents addressed to the Petroleum and Energy Secretary showed claims were made for services rendered by two consultants who Mr Kevau said had nothing to do with the project.
He said the documents revealed the “executives” (named) in all the correspondences were claiming K3.5 million for services rendered over an 18-month period.
Mr Kevau said the Government must have stringent measures in place to protect against bogus claims in the multi billion kina gas project.
He said the shareholders of the village Landowner cvompanies were the respective ILGs which represent the clans in each village.
Mr Kevau said this means that the entire population of the four villages are shareholders in Laba and benefits from business will flow through to the village people on a totally equitable basis.