The Vanuatu Government has welcomed the decision of the Appeal Court that the registration of two large leases over around 2,300 hectares of land in North Efate should be removed on grounds of ‘fraud’ and ‘mistake’.
“We welcome this important decision”, said Minister of Lands Alfred Maoh.
“It that shows that the Court is prepared to remove the registration of leases over customary land that have not followed proper legal and administrative process. It is another decision which will help to clean up land leasing processes in Vanuatu and provides a legal path way for other custom owner groups who know that leases over their land also followed improper processes. ”
The court ruling was issued on 22 February 2019.
The Appeals Court decision marks the end of a nine year process which began in 2010 when Lelepa people from Mangaliliu and Lelepa Island with the support of an Australian lawyer, Siobhan McDonnell, tried to protect the leases under community lease arrangements.
Lelepa people filed two negotiation certificate applications with the Department of Lands on 9 July 2012, only to find that the two areas of land were leased by Minister Steven Kalsakau on 23 August 2012 to a Mele man, Kalorip Poilapa and then transferred to French agriculturalists, Michel Monvoison and Ludovic Bolliet.
Lelepa people, represented by the late Chief Kalkot Murmur and Richard Matanik, then began a case to challenge the registration of the leases.
During the case the Republic of Vanuatu admitted that the registration of the leases did not go through proper administration processes and that the checklist requirements were not followed in registering the leases.
The Court also accepted that Monvoison was involved in the processes in that the fees that should have been paid by Poilapa to register the leases were actually paid by Monvoison.
The court also made specific findings about the gross inadequacy of the premiums paid for such large areas of land.
Only 2 million VT was paid for the first lease of 1805 hectares of land, when the government valuation for the same area was 171,400,000 VT (meaning what was paid was just over 1 per cent of the value of the land).
The amount paid for the second leased area of 485 hectares was VT 500,000, when the government valuation for the same area was 80,200,000 VT (meaning what was paid was less than 1 per cent of the value of the land). This also means that the Vanuatu Government was defrauded on the value of the stamp duty paid.
The Appeals Court also found a series of irregularities in the documents to transfer the lease.
The typewritten document showed that the amount paid to transfer the lease of 22,000,000 VT has been struck out and a handwritten note in pen written 2,000,000 VT has been written.
The court found that Mr Monvoison’s agent, Frank Zuchetto altered the consent after it had been signed by the Minister of Lands rendering the document void.
Finally the Appeals Court found that the former Minister of Lands Steven Kalsakau had both failed to consult with disputing custom owner groups, failed to follow the relevant check-list for registration and failed to take into account the inadequacy of the premium paid.
This effectively meant that the Minister’s decision had been a ‘mistake’ and the registration of the leases must be set aside.
Minister Maoh stated: “This is an important decision because it clearly sets out the proper process that need to be followed in granting a lease. Where these are not followed, and the power of the Minister is used in an improper way, the registration of the leases can be cancelled. My Department will now be working to cancel the registration of these two leases, following the decision of the Appeal Court”.
Photo supplied. Caption: Mangaliliu and Lelepa Island respondents with Australian lawyer, Siobhan McDonnell, outside the Court.