Theresia Bob and Dickson Olabe PDL8 Angore Case: root cause lies with main contractor-HGDC
Theresia Bob: CEO, Angore Holdings Limited
“Service Providers are not being paid on time because the main contractor has delayed paying AHL. Within the last twelve months, AHL’s payments have consistently been delayed by the Contractor which has caused serious cashflow problems where service providers have not been fully paid to this day that I got arrested by one of the Service Providers, Mr. Dickson Olabe on 14th February 2025,’ Theresia Bob,” CEO, Angore Holdings Ltd.
Getting The Record Straight
PORT MORESBY: Theresia Bob, CEO of Angore Holdings Limited, was arrested on 14th February, 2025 over a dispute involving unpaid service providers. The root cause of the issue lies with the main contractor, who has failed to pay Angore Holdings Ltd (AHL), resulting in a ripple effect that has left service providers without their due payments.
An example of such service providers is Dickson Olabe. He is the Managing Director of Tagali Contractors Ltd and other associated companies including Tagali Transport.
According to information obtained, Dickson Olabe’s company, Tagali Contractors Limited was engaged to supply an excavator to Angore Holdings Limited (AHL) between 19th July 2022 and December 2022 to be hired out to PDL8 Drilling Projects in Angore through HGDC as the main Contractor.
Hides Gas Development Company Ltd (HGDC) is the main contractor, which should be paying AHL, which then pays service providers like Olabe. In this case, HGDC has not honoured their commitment to pay service providers.
Bob says the contractor’s consistent delays in payments to AHL have caused serious cash flow problems.
“Within the last twelve months, AHL’s payments have been consistently delayed by the main Contractor (HGDC), which has caused serious cashflow problems where service providers have not been fully paid to this day,” she said.
So, when we really look at this case, the root cause lies with HGDC, not AHL, nor Theresia Bob, neither is Dickson Olabe responsible for chasing such payments, when he should already have been paid if HGDC Limited did their part.
Instead of raising a legal case with AHL as an entity, Olabe decided to arrest Bob, which now also causes more problems. These two people are both minor players, in hindsight. The root issues lies with the main Contractor who has the monies to pay the service providers, which in this case is Hides Gas Development Company Ltd (HGDC)
Theresia Bob is an employee of AHL and Dickson Alobe is a service provider to the project, managed by AHL and contracted by AHL. AHL pays Olabe when HGDC pays AHL.
If anything, Olabe’s company should have taken AHL to court, and not arrested an individual member of AHL. The service agreements were signed between AHL as a separate legal entity and Tagali Contractors, also a separate legal entity. The agreements were not signed between Bob and Alobe, so why has Alobe arrested Bob?
The arrest has sparked controversy, with many questioning the fairness of the situation. Bob maintains that she is not personally responsible for the debt and that the issue lies with the contractor’s failure to pay Angore Holdings Limited. .
“Service Providers are not being paid on time because the main contractor has delayed paying AHL. Hence, Mr Dickson Olabe was fully aware of his outstanding monies at the time he arrested me and as an educated man, he should have sued AHL as it was AHL that owed him and not me,” said Theresia Bob.
The incident highlights the need for the main contractor to take responsibility for the payments and resolve the issue to prevent further disruptions to the project.
Peaceful Way Foreward
Angore Holdings Limited is a legal entity; hence a company duly incorporated under the Companies Act 1997 and is 100% owned by Landowners of the Angore, PDL8, in Tari, Hela Province. The accused, Ms Theresia Bob is a natural person and employed by Angore Holdings Limited as the CEO. She is neither a director nor shareholder of the Company.
Tagali Contractors Limited is also a legal entity and a service provider to Angore Holdings Limited. Therefore any debts due, owing and payable to Tagali Contractors Ltd may be settled solely or paid by AHL and not to be paid by Theresia Bob, as the accused is a natural person and generally immune from civil or criminal prosecutions.
This now practically means that, if Olabe wishes to sue anyone, AHL is the legal entity he sues and not Theresia Bob, who is only an employee of AHL. Meanwhile AHL should be putting the contractor Hides Gas Development Company (HGDC) on Notice to pay what’s owing to service providers in the likes of Olabe. This will create a peaceful way foreward for all parties. (ends)
