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You first heard how Paumen and his associates were accused of trying to orchestrate the murder of Modiri and 3 others. Modiri and Paumen are neighbours in Franks Eddy Village.

The dispute which supposedly sparked all of this is the Dark Knight Cavetubing Tour – in which NICH is a partner. It's owned by Paumen, and when he didn't have access to the caves, the Government acquired Modiri's land so that he could build a road to it. Modiri sued, and won when the Supreme Court Judge ruled that the then Minister of Natural Resources, Gaspar Vega, improperly acquired Modiri's land for a private purpose, and tried to justify the acquisition is being for a public purpose. The court reversed the acquisition of Modiri's land and gave it back to the original owner.

Yesterday, Michael Modiri won yet another victory yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that Paumen has to pay him 300 thousand dollars in compensation for the trespass on his land. So, right now, NICH, The Ministry of Tourism, and the Ministry of Natural Resources still have to deal with the negative publicity surrounding Modiri/Paumen case. We asked Vega if he has any regrets signing off on the acquisition of Modiri's land when he was the minister in charge. Here's how he answered that one:

Daniel Ortiz

"It reeks somewhat like a public scandal where a wealthy business owner leaned on the government and you as the then Minister of Natural Resources signed off on his land being acquired for reportedly a public purpose but the court said it is not and it was improper. Is there any regrets that you have seeing as though how it has played out and that you were the minister in charge then?"

Hon. Gaspar Vega - Min. of Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry

"I have probably some regret that probably we could have done it a different way but I want everybody to know that because it has been insinuated that some minister, that minister was not me okay. The issue had gone to cabinet and all we wanted to do is ensure that the other business man and it's not the first we've had issue constantly where people are being blocked off. Sometimes it's not business, its residences where they get blocked off and you don't have entry to your property and all we were trying to do is to assists. The reports that I had gotten is that it was a good investment from Paumen, I think that was the company we were trying to assist and all the government was trying to do was assist with a road way to the site and I don't have any regrets for having signed on behalf of that company to tell you the truth, I think that we probably could have done it different."

In yesterday's case the court gave Modiri compensation of 150 thousand dollars, and an additional award of exemplary damages of another 150 thousand dollars. Modiri told the media that he is in fear of his life since the murder conspiracy emerged, and he had to deal with gun charges which were dropped when the police realized that he was being framed. As viewers will remember apart from being charged with abetment to murder, Paumen and others were charged for the perversion of justice and the conspiracy to pervert justice.