Housing probe in city

HOMES at the centre of a recent eviction dispute in Lae remain the property of the National Housing Corporation (NHC), according to Minister for Housing and Urbanisation Justin Tkatchenko.
He clarified this yesterday after claims that one of the homes had allegedly been sold by NHC staff to a foreigner to offset a debt.
Tkatchenko and Minister for Lands John Rosso called the actions of the NHC officers “insubordination”.
“And the properties (rented by tenants who were issued eviction notices) are still owned by the NHC and not the foreigner,” Tkatchenko said.
“This foreigner recently said she had nothing to do with the purchase of the properties.
“That is correct.
“The problem we have is insubordination by NHC staff in Lae that caused this problem.
“They never got approval to release a statement saying that the property was sold to the foreigner.”
He said the foreigner had taken the NHC to court to reclaim the money she allegedly paid for a property.
“The acting NHC managing director did not authorise any purchase of the property and did not authorise staff to act the way they did,” he said.
“It is being done in a very suspicious circumstance for the self-gain of the officers and needs to be fully investigated.
“The homes are still the property of the NHC and the officers will be held accountable for their action to mislead the NHC management.”