THE Ministry of Public Infrastructure has taken a decision not to renew the lease for a hangar located at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport.

Embattled cash-jet pilot Khamraj Lall, who used the hangar, was nabbed by Puerto Rican authorities in a high-profile arrest in November, 2014, while transporting more than US$600,000 in cash aboard his jet. He is facing up to two years in jail.

Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said Lall’s representatives had written to Attorney General Basil Williams, claiming that they still had a stake in the property but were told that the clear condition on the lease is that, once it expired, the State could repossess the property.

The lease expired on October 15 last year, and following legal advice from the Attorney General, a decision was taken not to renew the agreement.

“We wrote, in accordance with the lease, advising them that we will have no intention of renewing the lease and they were free to remove any moveable objects and properties that they would have on the land,” Patterson noted.

The Minister noted that the CJIA could make a lot of money in facilitating the arrival and departure of cargo. Meanwhile, Government will also be seeking avenues to forfeit all illegal gains made by Lall through money laundering and drug smuggling.
Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, said: “There are assets here in Guyana, and it is in the interest of the State to ensure that those assets are secured in the event that we have to take further steps or actions.”

Under the deal with the U.S. Government, Lall pleaded guilty to one count of concealing more than US$10,000 in his plane, and attempting to transfer it outside of the U.S. to Guyana. He would have been facing up to five years’ imprisonment on a number of charges if he had opted for a trial and had been found guilty.
Lall, who operated the Timehri hangar and controlled KayLees Gas Station at Coverden, East Bank Demerara, has agreed that other assets may be subject to forfeiture, as there is still a pending civil matter for the seizure of assets in New Jersey, another U.S. territory where he has homes, vehicles, cash and other properties.

In July 2015, Lall was also charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine, and importation of cocaine into the United States.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Marangola, who is handling the case, said that according to the indictment, between December 2013 and February 10, 2015, the defendant conspired to bring more than five kilogrammes of cocaine from Guyana into the United States.