Abandoned casino at Boroko not approved project: NGCB chairman

THE abandoned 4-Mile Casino Hotel project in Port Moresby is not an approved project, National Gaming and Control Board (NGCB) chairman Clemence Kanau says.
“The project was never sanctioned by the gaming board. It was a politically motivated activity if you like (to label it).
“Today, it is a ghost town. We have no idea what happened to that activity and we will never participate in it,” he said on Friday at the signing of agreements between NGCB and Paga Hill Development Company for the construction of a casino to be built on Paga Hill.
“It was also not properly regulated.
“You need to have legislations and regulations given to any establishment of any game of chance,” he stressed.
Police recently launched investigations into an alleged K28 million embezzelement that stalled the construction of the 5-star Casino Hotel, according to crimes chief unit director Chief Insp Joel Simatab. “We commenced investigations after the casino hotel developer lodged a police report alleging that a few suspects had created another company account and diverted the shareholders’ funds from the original company account,” he said.
“It was due to such an illegal transaction in 2011 that led to no funds to complete the project,” he added. Chief Insp Simatab said the suspects were also under investigation for fraud, forgery and uttering, misappropriation, theft by false pretence (company shareholder) and unauthorised power of attorney involving a reputable law firm to defraud funds allocated for the Casino Hotel project.