ABSTRACT
This chapter interrogates a rural land-grab in Papua New Guinea’s Madang Province, which is set against the development of a new special economic zone. It examines how an influential local company, possessing strong connections within the business community and provincial government, leveraged its political standing to fraudulently acquire the land from its customary owners. The techniques, institutional structures and forms of deception, are documented which enabled the company concerned to acquire the land at a discounted price, and then offload it to a private developer closely connected to the special economic zone’s ministerial architect.
