Accompanied by a battery of lawyers, Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo appeared at the offices of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) on Camp Street on Monday afternoon, a move he said is geared at establishing a precedent.

Jagdeo is the latest in a  number of officials of the former PPP Cabinet who were invited by SOCU for questioning relevant to the Pradoville Two housing scheme at Sparendaam on the East Coast of Demerara.

Jagdeo told reporters that said the Peoples Progressive Party has filed  a matter with SOCU regarding the Ministry of Public Infrastructure. He said that he expects that when that investigation is undertaken by SOCU , that each member of current Cabinet will appear at the unit. He said he could have refused the “interview” by the investigators but he said he did not because he wanted to set the precedent.

On the issue of Pradoville, he said he dealt with the matter many times before and according to him the matter will eventually wind its way to the court.

Former Minister of Transport , Robeson Benn was quoted in another section of the media following his appearance at SOCU last week, that the housing scheme was built for security reasons but Jagdeo noted that the opinion was that of Benn and according to him, it was not discussed at the Cabinet when the party was in power.

He said Benn confirmed that he “never said so at SOCU” and according to Jagdeo, had it been a security issue, he would not have moved to Pradoville. Asked why the scheme was established, Jagdeo side-stepped the issue and noted that all the answers will be ventilated int the courts.

Jagdeo said too that he would not pay the difference in the price of land at the housing scheme. “No , the answer is no,” he said bluntly.

Last week Former  President and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds along with several other former government officials appeared before SOCU for questioning in relation to the role they played in the sale of state lands at Pradoville Two.

Hinds was accompanied by former Minister of Local Government Kellawan Lall; former Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Pauline Sukhai; former Minister of Health Dr Bheri Ramsarran and former Minister of Housing Irfaan Ali, on Wednesday afternoon.

The Guyana Chronicle reported recently that charges are expected to be instituted against persons fingered in the Sparendaam Housing Project AKA Pradoville Two, land scam, according to a well-placed source.

The Guyana Chronicle understands that investigations into the housing project are near completion, and that charges could be laid soon. The investigations are based on a forensic audit which found that several persons close to the last government had received prime seafront property belonging to the state at extraordinarily low cost.