Ex-lands chairman faces charges

By BOURA GORUKILA
A FORMER Lands board chairman who was charged with fraud and official corruption appeared before Waigani Committal Court Magistrate Dessie Kaputin Magaru yesterday.
Francis Neil Tanga, 54, from Laku village in Wapenamanda, Enga, is facing a count of false pretence, five counts of forgery, five counts of uttering, a count of abuse of office and a count of conspiring to defraud.
Tanga was alleged to have conspired with others to falsify documents and uttered the same to the Lands Department to bid for land portion 2353, Granville, between July 3, 2008, and June 23, 2015, according to police.
Police files indicated that an exemption licence was issued to United Holdings Ltd and other applicants over portion 2353, in 2003, and about 15 applicants expressed their interest for a state lease. A Land board meeting was convened on March 17, 2004, and attended by the 15 applicants and the lease was granted to the Maranatha Baptist church.
Tanga and his company Joint Mission Movement Ltd (JMML) were not a party in that bid.
Tanga and the 14 applicants were not happy with the decision and lodged an appeal through the Land board having declared that portion 2353 was a special purpose/commercial lease and no longer a ‘mission lease’ as was the case before.
The appeal was heard and the state lease granted to Maranatha Baptist church was revoked.
Tanga was appointed chairman for the National Land board in September, 2005, where he used his position as chairman and introduced an application under the name Joint Mission Movement Ltd and also included it in the bid over portion 2353. Eight of the 14 applicants in the previous proceeding including Tanga went for a rehearing where Tanga’s company JMML was included bringing the total number of applicants to nine.
Investment Promotion Authority records showed that JMML was not a registered entity at the time.
They came into existence on Jan 28, 2009, under one director and one share holder, Dr Philip Laho and not Tanga.