GOVERNMENT is in the process of setting up a special prosecution team to prepare reports into the forensic audits completed on the Sparendaam housing project commonly known as ‘Pradoville Two’ and the Guyana Cricket World Cup Inc.Minister of State, Cabinet Secretary Joseph Harmon, disclosed on Friday during a post-Cabinet press briefing that regional and international assistance would be provided in each case.

“Cabinet, upon examination of the reports, concluded that in both cases there were indications of criminal culpability that required further investigation. Cabinet agreed that in each case a special prosecutors’ team would be established, and that the Minister of Legal Affairs would submit a report to Cabinet — within one week — on the composition of such a team,” he stated.

Harmon said the reports are to be handed over to the Guyana Police Force for its initiation of criminal investigations.

“The Special Prosecuting team would not be limited to just local personnel, it (would) have a wider sweep; and we are looking to bring persons who are capable of handling these matters. Yes, we are looking at the region in the first instance as well, and then further afield,” the Minister of State disclosed.

He said Guyana has been offered assistance not only from regional counterparts, but from international partners as well; and he believes this has resulted from the need to tackle corruption with the aim of ensuring transparency in government. Asked whether the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) is not responsible for conducting the prosecution in cases such as the Sparendaam Housing Project, Harmon reminded that SOCU is part of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

He said, “These are criminal investigations, and therefore the decision is that it goes to the police and the police decide whether it is SOCU or the Criminal Investigation Department (that would) deal with (the investigations); but as far as Government is concerned, the matter should be investigated by the criminal investigation elements within the Guyana Police Force.”

BELOW MARKET VALUE
He disclosed that among the alleged criminalities found are that plots of land were transferred at values that were not reflective of market prices at the time, because the valuations provided were “unusual for the time and location”. And he disclosed that the audit looked at the transfer of a “particular piece of land that is not far from what is now known as Pradoville Two for the price on which it was transferred, and then compared that to the price on which members of the previous administration almost gifted themselves those portions of land.”

The audit into the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) disclosed that some $257 million were spent on the development of the housing project, and the value of land there should have been $82.8 million per acre; but the lands were sold for significantly less, he said.

Additionally, the transmission tower belonging to the National Communications Network (NCN) was removed and relocated by the former People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPPC) to facilitate the development of the area.

“Instead of accumulating all the costs associated with the Sparendaam Project — including the market value of the land — in a special account to be applied in arriving at the price to be charged per house lot, NICIL’s Board and Cabinet were complicit in charging the related costs of $257.049M to NCN in the form of equity investment, and to CH&PA in the form of receivables.

“The fact that several key Cabinet members are the beneficiaries of the house lots renders it highly inappropriate for the very Cabinet to approve of the charging of the expenditure to the accounts of NCN and CH&PA,” the audit report stated.

The report, released by the Ministry of Finance, said the use of a “conservative estimate of $985M for the 2009 market valuation of the land on which the Marriott has been constructed prior to infrastructure being undertaken on a similar size land (makes) the total value of the Sparendaam project work out to $1.242B or $82.8M per acre.

“This figure should have been used to compute the price per lot. It is not clear: (a) how many lots are involved, and their respective sizes; (b) the basis under which the recipients were selected; (c) how the price of approximately $1.5M per lot was determined; and (d) which entity — NICIL or CH&PA — received the proceeds from the sale of the plots”, the audit report disclosed.

The State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) has recommended that Attorney General Basil Williams put systems in place so that charges of “misconduct in public office” could be laid against former President Bharrat Jagdeo and five ministers of the former administration: Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud; Public Service Minister Dr. Jennifer Westford; Education Minister Priya Manickchand; Labour Minister Dr. Nanda Gopaul; and Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee.
This recommendation follows an investigation into the procedures employed prior to the transfer and issuance of prime real estate at Sparendaam, lower East Coast Demerara, to the former government ministers and persons believed to be their friends.

Meanwhile, investigations into the operations of the Guyana Cricket World Cup Inc. have found that the local organising committee had engaged in irregularities in meeting expenditures relating to the hosting of the 2007 International Cricket World Cup in Guyana.