Lack of evidence and man’s fraudulent case struck out

THE Waigani Committal Court has struck out the case of a man accused of fraudulently replacing directors of a landowner company at the PNG Liquefied Natural Gas site at Tari, Hela.
Magistrate Cosmas Bidar discharged Howard Lole, 49, from Hedemari village in Koroba, Hela, who had been charged with two counts forgery and two counts of uttering and illegally removing directors of the Jugu Development Corporation Ltd.
It was alleged that between Aug 1 and 30, 2012, Lole went to the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) in Port Moresby and issued form 15, unlawfully removing directors Andale Andaya, James Bari and Alex Malingi from the company without their consent.
Bidar struck out the case on grounds that the action Lole took was to protect the interesst of the company and the 1,850 shareholders who contributed K220,000 to form the company and the Company’s Act did not provide for consent to be obtained before replacing directors.
“In dealing with such cases, I will consider the provisions of the Company’s Act which deal with ceasing of old directors and approving new ones,” Bidar said.
“Basically the allegation was that no proper meeting was conducted to change the former directors and appoint new ones… one of the main allegations was that those directors were replaced without their consent.
“Consent of the old directors was not obtained, but the Company’ Act does not provide for the consent.
“The evidence shows continuous infighting including the complainant, so the defendant is the person who actually initiated the formation of the company, stepped in to save the company and save the shareholders’ money, therefore consent is not required in such circumstances,” Bidar said.
The court considered the evidence and found that the evidence is not sufficient to warrant committal of the defendant to stand trial in the National Court.
Lole later told The National that he appealed to the general public, the hardworking shareholders from Hela and his trusted business partners that the people who made the allegations against him were not really genuine landowners.
“They have other ultra-motives to destroy the trust and credibility of the company,” he said.
“I have made a lot of sacrifices for the company because 90 per cent of the shareholders are my clan’s men and I really take ownership in investing their money to grow.
“From a humble beginning, we have grown and invested in Kontiki Finance based in Fiji and became one of the top 20 shareholders of the company and now we are looking to buy more equity overseas.”