Court drops exec’s charges

THE Hides Special Purpose Authority (HSPA) is faced with a difficult task of distributing landowner royalties because there was no social mapping and clan vetting to identify genuine landowners, a senior magistrate says.
Waigani Committal Court Magistrate Cosmas Bidar said this when throwing out a case against HSPA executive chairman Lemson Mabiria Lemape.
Bidar said the evidence presented was insufficient to support the charges of misappropriation and conspiracy to defraud.
Bidar said in such allegations, it was important to consider the background of the case along with the evidence to determine whether the allegations could stand or not.
“There are two conditions under the Oil and Gas Act which requires the developers and State to hold a development forum and conduct social mapping and clan vetting, where the landowners can be identified properly so payments can be made to genuine landowners and to the right parties,” he said.
“Since the 2009 Umbrella Benefit Sharing Agreement (UBSA) and the License Based Sharing Agreement (LBSA) to this date, nothing has been done in respect to clan vetting and social mapping so no one really knows who the right landowners are and who should be paid the money.
“The HSPA chairman is faced with a daunting task of finding out the real landowners and whom the money should be given to.”
Bidar said the case was based on speculation as there was no evidence, either direct or circumstantial, against Lemape.
He said the other block of landowner groups were paid their share and only JP Karai Blocks had issues with the distribution of money.
“HSPA gives instructions to the lawyers as they themselves do not know how the money should be distributed.”
Bidar dropped Lemape’s charges and ordered for his bail money of K1,500 to be refunded.
Lemape was alleged to have conspired with two lawyers from Lakakit and Associate Lawyers and Chesterfield Lawyers to defraud JP Karai Block landowners from Hides PDL 01, by signing a purported memorandum of understanding last year to transfer K1 million from HSPA’s trust account to the respective law firms for payment to the landowners without the landowners’ knowledge.
He was also alleged to have misappropriated K1 million from the HSPA.
Lemape told The National that he was pleased with the court’s decision.
He said as HSPA chairman for the past 12 years, he was only a facilitator of payments and tried to perform his task for the best interest of the people despite the complexity of landowner issues.