THE Ministry of Housing and Water will not only be prosecuting fraudsters who are manufacturing bogus documents and promising persons house lots, but also those persons who are party to fraud. This was announced on Thursday by Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali at a press conference in the Ministry’s boardroom, Brickdam, Georgetown when he also disclosed that the Ministry has discovered the first fraudster for the year, a person operating under the name ‘Satesh.’
According to him, this person has posed as a Ministry staff and produced bogus documents, issuing house lots to six persons, to the value of $250,000 each, for an area that is not even under development by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).

Party to the fraud

Ali further stated that the six persons who were defrauded will also be prosecuted, because the public has been issued with numerous public advisories, and have failed to adhere to these notices.
“What we’re going to do in this case is that we’re going to prosecute those persons who are party to the fraud too because we need to send a strong message that the persons who are party to the fraud are equally culpable and equally mischievous in their act to be part of frauds,” he said.
He remarked that the Ministry is currently working in collaboration with the Guyana Police Force to track down ‘Satesh’ and expressed confidence that they are going to locate him.
Ali advised that any other person who was approached by ‘Satesh’ is asked to visit the Ministry with their documents and information so that the matter can be dealt with, because these fraudsters are creating mischief and destroying the credibility of the Ministry.
 According to him, the Ministry has a very strong monitoring and control system, which enabled the staff to identify this instance of fraud.
He pointed out that last year the Ministry discovered six cases of fraud, and four persons are currently before the court, while wanted bulletins have been issued for the two remaining persons.