That article described his murder at the hands of “petty criminals outside the notorious Tete settlement at Gerehu on December 16 after inspecting his timber yard.

 

“The late knight came to PNG in 1954 and ventured into building and road construction and hotel industries.

These industries provided employment for thousands of locals to contribute to the national economy for almost 55 years. And it will still be doing so for years to come through the Constantinou group of companies.

In retaliation, police went in and demolished the settlement to fulfil what the Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare had warned about in November 2003. Sir Michael had warned that one more killing would have this settlement removed. Sir Michael issued this warning after 15 people were killed in the settlement. It was after the killing of his fellow knight that his warning was fulfilled.”

 

In a 2012 Supreme Court of Queensland document it was stated that Sir George Constantinou OBE left 14 children, and held assets in Papua New Guinea of about $26 million, assets in Australia (primarily Queensland) of about $10 million), and assets in Cyprus of about $560,000.

 

Below is an extract from 31 July, 2015 Domain article by Lucy Macken “When billionaires go property investment shopping” and is about a Sydney property purchase by one of the sons of Sir George Constantinou, namely Sir Theophilus George Constantino CBE (1960-2019):

 

“Irene Lee, who heralds from one of Hong Kong’s richest families, has sold her Point Piper residence to one of Papua New Guinea’s richest men Theophilus Constantinou. Settlement records are yet to confirm how close Sotheby’s Michael Pallier came to securing the original $12 million asking price, but a caveat reveals the buyer to be the managing director of PNG construction giant Hebou, which was founded by his late father Sir George Constantinou.

 

The architect Michael Suttor - designed property was bought by Lee in 2002 for $5.35 million, but was listed following Lee’s return to Hong Kong, where she is chair of the property and landlord company Hysan Development.

 

Another son of Sir George Constantinou is Sir Kostas George

Constantinou OBE (1957-2023), who held a number of high-level public sector and private sector appointments including Chairman of the Bank of South Pacific Ltd and Air Niugini Ltd, and was a Director of Oil Search until its recent merger with Oil Search.  He had also been a Board Member of the Salvation Army, the Catholic Archdiocese of Port Moresby’s finance committee, and Anglicare, and was the Vice-Chairman of the Employers Federation of PNG for 30 years.

 

Sir George passed away in Brisbane 17 June, 2023 at aged 65 from heart complications. An ABC Pacific article dated 20 June, 2023 states “During his time at the helm, the Constantinou Group grew to include companies in development, construction and hospitality, with luxury hotels in PNG and around the Pacific that employed thousands of people.“