Former NHC boss appears in court for conspiracy to defraud, misappropriation

A FORMER employee of the National Housing Corporation (NHC) appeared at the Waigani Committal Court yesterday charged with conspiracy to defraud and misappropriation.
Wemin Boi, 53, from Gewaia village of Sinasina in Chimbu, a former legal officer and acting managing director of the NHC (2013-2016), stood before magistrate Ernest Wilmot to answer to charges of abuse of office, conspiracy to defraud and misappropriation.
It is alleged that Boi colluded with others to defraud Jack Nambari of a property, section 71, Allotment 8, Gordon in NCD.
Nambari had lived on the property since 2011, which was leased to him by the NHC in February that year.
NHC had made an offer to Nambari to purchase the property for K114,537.509 then.
He made an upfront payment of K12,433.75 on Aug 2011.
However, a contract of sale was never drafted for reasons unknown to him.
On April 10, 2016, John Dege as the acting managing director of the NHC, wrote a letter to Nambari informing him that the offer to purchase the property was cancelled and that he would be evicted if he failed to comply within seven days.
Nambari then obtained a restraining order to stop the eviction.
Dege then wrote a letter of offer for the purchase of the property to Judith Nikijulu, while the court order was in effect.
An undated contract of sale was prepared and signed by Nikijulu as purchaser and Boi as acting managing director.
Nikijulu made an upfront payment of K26,065 on May 26, 2016, which formalised the transfer of the property to Nikijulu on Sept 27 that year.
Nikijulu then paid the outstanding balance on Nov 9 that year.
Nambari later made a complaint on the conduct of the purchase of the property to police.
Police investigations later uncovered that Nambari was the legal tenant to the property as per the NHC Act Section 38 (1). It was alleged that Boi made an offer to Nikijulu without following proper procurement procedures of the NHC such as inspections and property valuation.
Boi was then alleged to have authorised the final payment as per his footnote at the Lodgement of Contract Sale Instrument Document dated Sept 27, 2016, which was a breach of the procurement process of the NHC.
He appeared in court on a K3,000 bail and had his case adjourned to Sept 20 for submissions.