In 2012 Dame Carol Kidu became the public face for the struggle to save Paga Hill from real-estate developer, PHDC, a company which is led by Icelandic-Australian businessmen Gummi Fridriksson.
Kidu’s 2012 stance was not surprising, Fridriksson had run businesses censured in a Commission of Inquiry, four Public Accounts Committee inquiries, and two Auditor General investigations. Quite a record by any stretch! Kidu damned the land deal at Paga Hill for being mired in alleged corruption and violence.
Kidu’s fully owned company CK Consultancy Limited was subsequently offered a lucrative consultancy deal by PHDC. To the shock of many, Kidu took the deal, and became the public face for Gudmundur Fridriksson and PHDC’s luxury real-estate venture at Paga Hill.
All of the twists and turns of the struggle to save Paga Hill were captured by documentary filmmaker Hollie Fifer. This year Dame Kidu, with funding from PHDC, attempted to silence the film [view the trailer below], through a legal action in the New South Wales Supreme Court.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court definitively rejected Dame Kidu’s argument that Fifer had used deception and acted unconscionably. The injunction against the film has been lifted, the world will now hear about an epic Papua New Guinea struggle against foreign businessmen and the political elite!
