A LAND deal entered into by mortgage fraud convict, New York-based Guyanese businessman Ed Ahmad and then President Bharrat Jagdeo in 2008, regarding the leasing of prime government land at the intersection of Thomas Street and Vlissengen Road, reeks of corruption, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said.The minister made this disclosure yesterday at his weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at the Ministry of the Presidency where he noted that the controversial land deal was completed in just seven days.

The lease was given to Generation Complex Inc, a company owned by Ed Ahmad of 105-20 Liberty Avenue Queens, New York. Ahmad had applied for the 3.41 acres of government land on May 22, 2008 and the application was approved on May 27, 2008 – a mere five days after.
On May 29, the then government had served a notice to the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU), whose headquarters is next to the plot, indicating that they were going to survey the land on the same day.
According to the minister, a cadastral survey was executed and the plan was registered the same day. The lease for the land, which stipulated a $50,000 annual payment, was then issued to Ahmad on May 30.
Last month Harmon had told reporters that the transaction was never recorded under the Lands and Survey Commission but included in a lease document stashed away in the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), under the stewardship of Winston Brassington.
LEGAL BATTLE
At that time too, the government and the GPSU had been engaging in a legal battle regarding ownership of the land. This battle, Harmon said, was occurring simultaneously with the granting of the lease.
However, in pointing out what the shortcomings of the deal were, Harmon explained that for the issue of a lease, notice has to be served on the surrounding land owners and they must be given an opportunity to object.
“So if you say you serve on the same day you do your survey, something is wrong with that. There is a time stipulated for them to file for objection. If all of that is done on the same day, then you call that a one-day plan and something is legally wrong with that,” he noted.
Further, he revealed that the whole process of making an application before the Lands and Survey Commission requires several actions to be taking by the commission itself.
These include, inter alia, real due diligence of checking that the land is actually owned by the parties and that rates and taxes are paid on the land.
After these processes would have been completed, which are necessary for the granting of the lease, it is then taken to the person, whose name the lease is signed in.
“So for all of that to take place, since the land is identified until he holds the lease in his hands, for that to happen in just seven days is more than administrative efficiency, it reeks of corruption,” Minister Harmon told reporters.
150-ROOM HOTEL
The design of the complex was listed to have facilitated, inter alia, a hotel which was to bear a minimum of 150 rooms, restaurants, bars, a casino, clubs and exhibition halls. The lease was pegged at $500,000 annually and after a certain period of time Generation Complex Inc would have been given an option to purchase the land without going through the normal advertisement processes, Harmon said.
However, Ahmad paid this fee for one year and discontinued. And by virtue of the lease, the minister noted that the government has taken steps to have the lease terminated and the land brought back into government use. But reports have indicated that the lease has already been revoked; it happened in 2009.
OVERLOOKING CAMP AYANGANNA
But the implications of having a structure of that nature erected on that spot was greater than one could see. While the then administration had not seen it as an issue, Harmon noted that if a person stood at the top of the building, they could have seen the activities in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Base Camp Ayanganna.
The present government, when in opposition, also had concerns regarding a casino being in such close proximity with the army base and the issue of parking and congestion in the area.
And while there are no legal provisions barring the erection of such structures in close proximity of a military base, Harmon, a former GDF Lieutenant Colonel, opined that there are international practices and customs which oppose such practices.
Meanwhile, Ahmad, who has pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in the US, will know his fate on January 15, 2016 when his sentencing will take place.

By Ravin Singh