The Vanuatu Issue Nº 461
Independent
L’IND EP EN DA N T
December 15 - 21, 2012
Foundation Committee Inc.
DU
VANUATU
news@independent.vu
250XPF (Noumea)
t 50 V 1 Y ONL
Titles altered in lease scam
by Tony Wilson AN elaborate scam has been uncovered involving land titles being altered by past and present Lands Department staff who then issued the leases to themselves. The scam has been discovered involving 11 titles on the Tassiriki Park Estate and in each case the land values, which include absolute waterfront lots, have been seriously undervalued. The estate, the brainchild of the late Pierre Bourgeois, was established in 1970 with significant amounts of what was then most innovative green space. It is the green space that has been targeted by the scammers, said a Bourgeois family spokesman. “There is no green space left at Tassiriki, they have taken it all and it’s crazy to think they would stop at this one estate,’’ he said. “How are we going to attract overseas investment when you can lease land then have your title changed and sold from under you by the very people who helped issue the titles?’’ The spokesman said that the land grab scam seemed mainly aimed at creating land packages for ‘the boys in the dept’. “One title was on-sold to a Chinese
The original subdivision map of the Tassiriki Park Estate near the former Intercontinental Hotel, now the Holiday Inn, showing the green spaces and (above) one of the spaces which has been misappropriated. person but we have sorted that one out and we will now take legal action against all these other false titles and the people involved,’’ he said. The family and Tassiriki Ltd spokesman
said the original estate is on urban land which is not subject to custom title – it is just unused government land. He said there is no provision for green space in Vanuatu, so Tassiriki Ltd went to
the then Lands Minister Paul Telukluk and asked him to create special non-saleable leases for the green space land so it could exist in law but not have a value placed on it. Continued Page 2
ANZ accused of treating Vanwods women poorly by Tony Wilson A GROUP of impoverished and shabbily dressed Vanwods women waiting to cash their Christmas cheques were asked to wait outside in the heat after being told they made the ANZ Bank foyer ‘untidy’. “Many of these women are victims of rape and incest and their personal stories read like something from a horror movie,” said a senior Vanwods volunteer/organiser. She said a large group of women, some of them quite elderly, were forced to stand outside the bank in the boiling sun on December 7 after the unbelievable ANZ edict. Disgusted Vanwods managment are now seriously considering closing their sizeable ANZ account and moving it to a more friendly bank in Port Vila. “It is only a few times a year that we have groups of our 250 women cashing their
INSIDE
cheques at the ANZ bank,’’ said a Vanwods spokesperson. “And this is not the first time that ANZ management has frowned on our women because of the so-called standard of their dress and appearance.’’ The Vanwods spokeswoman said that a person with a management title of customer services manager or similar had asked the women to move outside and then re-enter in small numbers at a time to cash their cheques. Vanwods is one of the more successful microfinance projects in the South Pacific region, providing disadvantaged women with access to microfinance and income earning opportunities. It consists of pods which are made up of three women or ‘sistas’, with 10 pods to a district. Each of the women is able to receive small business loans and if they default on their loan it is
re-paid by their sistas in the pod. There has never been a default on a loan in Vanwods in Vanuatu. “They may be looking down on our sistas, but a significant number go on to become very successful businesswomen, earning VT300,000 - 400,000 a month, which would put them ahead of many ANZ managers who are frowning on them,’’ said a Vanwods organiser. ANZ Bank’s head of corporate banking, Warren Bobin, said that week, several mamas from Vanwods come into the Port Vila branch. “The number of customers we serve from Vanwods is generally higher around Christmas,’’ he said. “On Friday, December 7, we had approximately 138 mamas come in to conduct their banking along with our regular customer traffic flow.
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“This caused considerable congestion in the banking chamber and in order to assist movement of customers and ensure the safety of our customers we asked the mamas to congregate at the back door and we served 10 at a time through three of our tellers who were dedicated to the Vanwods customers. “There was a change in the weather Friday afternoon and when it began to rain we asked if they would like to come into the branch, however I am told they declined the offer. “We are supportive of Vanwods and their micro-finance and their involvement in the community. We have been working with Vanwods on alternative service channels including using our ATM network to give them easy access to cash. “We will continue to work with Vanwods on this and regret the inconvenience caused.’’
Mosen agensem oposisen
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THE PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTION AGENT OF THE INDEPENDENT ON OUTER ISLANDS IS VANUATU POST. COPIES RECEIVED BY OUTER ISLAND HIGH SCHOOLS ARE COURTESY OF WESTPAC VANUATU.
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