Special Agriculture and Business Lease; SABL; Department of Lands; Commission of Inquiry. land grab

Stolen logs leaving Papua New Guinea every week while politicians and bureaucrats look on

On 07 Mar, 2014 By rait man

Stolen logs continue to be shipped overseas under the watchful gaze of politicians, bureaucrats and the police while landowners look on wondering what justice and the law mean for them.

The SABL Commission of Inquiry has declared 66 leases covering some 5 million hectares of land to be illegal. But the government and its agencies are ignoring the findings and allowing foreign logging companies to continue stealing valuable timber resources.

Foreign logging companies still firmly in control in PNG

On 06 Mar, 2014 By rait man

From PNGExposed

Peter O’Neill’s handling of the illegal SABL land grab shows he is impotent in the face of Malaysian logging company control of PNG politicians and officials.

Call to replace SABL review team chairman

On 01 Mar, 2014 By rait man

Sourced from PNG EDGE

The PNG-Eco Forestry Forum has called on the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to appoint a new and neutral chairman for the Ministerial Committee reviewing the Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) commission of inquiry report.

Having Forestry and Climate Change Minister Patrick Pruaith in charge was like “giving the keys of the blood bank to Dracula’’, the forum said.

The SABL blame game – Who is to be blamed?

On 20 Feb, 2014 By rait man

By Pasifika Wardrobes

The Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) is still an outstanding matter before the O’Neill led government, and the much talked about delay into addressing this massive corrupt scheme has prompted the blame game.

The blame game started when there was a delay by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the SABL, and when one of the three commissioners in the inquiry failed to produce his report.

SABL Ministerial Committee a joke

On 18 Feb, 2014 By rait man

By Pasifika Wardrobes

Since the reports of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) were presented in parliament last October, Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill appointed a ministerial committee to look into the findings and recommendations of the inquiry.

Land-lease overhaul needed: PNG Land Scandal Commissioner

On 14 Feb, 2014 By rait man

The Chief Commissioner of Papua New Guinea's land scandal Inquiry says a whole new system of land-leasing is needed to put traditional landowners in the driver's seat for agricultural and other development.

From Radio Australia

Hundreds of thousands of landowners are waiting for the PNG government to act on its promise to cancel flawed Special Agricultural and Business Leases, or SABLs, issued for their land.

ACT NOW! disappointed with government

On 13 Feb, 2014 By rait man

BY JACK LAPAUVE EMTV News

Community Advocacy group ACT NOW has welcomed Prime Minister Peter O’Neill’s statement of revoking SABL leases however it is disappointed in the delays in implementing the process.

ACT NOW says there can be no excuses for the government to sit on the commission's recommendations, which was presented 6 months ago.

PNG landowners call for action on flawed land leases

On 13 Feb, 2014 By rait man

From ABC Radio Australia

One of the whistleblowers who gave evidence at the Commission of Inquiry into Papua New Guinea's land scandal is urging the government to act on calls for companies named in the final report to be investigated.

A company called Independent Timbers and Stevedoring stands accused of manipulating the supposedly independent lease approval process.

Landowners who thought they had only given approval for leases for a road project, found all their land had been leased out.

Australian-led company named by PNG's land scandal Inquiry

On 12 Feb, 2014 By rait man

From Radio Australia

A commission of inquiry in Papua New Guinea has recommended an Australian-led company involved in obtaining leases over more than two million hectares of traditional land be investigated for criminal misconduct and conspiracy.

Landowners told the Commission hearings their land, much of it pristine rainforest, has been leased without their permission.

The Commission found evidence of fraud by a company called Independent Timbers and Stevedoring.

Team yet to meet to review SABL reports

On 11 Feb, 2014 By rait man

By Joy Kisselpar on PNG Edge

The Ministerial Committee appointed by the National Executive Council (NEC) last year to look into recommendations made by the Commission of Inquiry into the Special Agriculture Business Lease (SABL) is yet to convene its first meeting.

The three-member committee was appointed by the prime minister when the final reports from two commissioners of the inquiry were submitted to government.

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Special Agriculture and Business Lease; SABL; Department of Lands; Commission of Inquiry. land grab

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