…says PPP running scared of probe into oil blocks, Pradoville lands

DEPUTY Director of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Aubrey Heath-Retemeyer, has cautioned People’s Progressive Party (PPP) leaders not to confuse his character with theirs of large scale corruption, as he blasted them for seeking to tarnish his name in recent land-grabbing claims.

In a media release on Monday, the Deputy Director joined the list of several individuals who have had to put their personal information into the spotlight to prove, false, the recent statements by Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo. Jagdeo, at his last press conference on June 27, 2019, claimed that the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) had illegally distributed almost 20,000 acres of land to a few persons between last year and now.

Using maps which he stated were received from persons within the Commission, he named individuals such as well-known Geotechnical Engineer and Groundwater Hydrologist, Charles Ceres; State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) official, Eric Phillips; Businesswoman, Muriel Allen; Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield; Project Management Officer (PMO) at the Ministry of the Presidency, Marlon Bristol; the company Great Wall Inc.; a Member of Parliament and Heath-Retemeyer as being involved in a “massive land grab” facilitated by the Ministry of the Presidency.

Just one day later, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission, Trevor Benn was able to rubbish Jagdeo’s claims with documented proof to support his statements. Benn informed that the individuals highlighted had applications in GLSC’s system long before 2015 and the Commission was instructed by the Court to restore, to individuals, lands wrongfully taken away by the former Administration.

Apart from Benn’s response, individually, Ceres has brought forward his documents to media to prove his transactions above board; the Ministry of the Presidency has defended Bristol’s land transactions as following all protocols and Heath-Retymeyer also chose to defend himself on Monday.

Jagdeo had claimed that Heath-Retemeyer received 10 acres of land on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway and one acre of land in Mocha, both in 2019, which he linked to some ulterior motive following the passage of the no-confidence motion on December 21, 2018.

In turn, the SARA Deputy Director explained that in 1978 – 41 years ago — he obtained a plot of land at Yarrowkabra and built a house. Around this period, he stated that residents were being encouraged to apply for between 5 to 10 acres of land for agricultural purposes which prompted him to make such an application in the early 2000s.

However, Heath-Retymeyer stated that this proved to be futile and led him to apply again in 2013 for 10 acres of land and once more in 2014 for the same. “…but my requests for cheap farm lands were never granted under the PPP/C administration. My request was finally granted in December 2017 and I obtained 10.14 acres of sand and jungle in Yarrowkabra,” he said.

Presently, SARA has turned to the High Court to repossess the properties owned by former President, Bharrat Jagdeo, and six other high-ranking officials who had benefitted from the Pradoville Scheme.

Meanwhile, the Agency has also launched an investigation into the manner in which key oil blocks offshore Guyana were awarded to “junior” oil companies in the dying days of the former PPP government. Criticisms of the Agency and attacks on its competence and legality have come from many leaders within the Opposition, including Attorney-at-Law, Anil Nandlall, who Heath-Retymeyer reminded has been called before the Courts for alleged larceny of over $2M worth of law books from the Ministry of Legal Affairs.

“It is no secret that Anil Nandall, who is wrongly accusing me of being a beneficiary of corrupt practices, is currently before the criminal courts accused of stealing law books from the State worth millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money,” Heath-Retymeyer said, adding:
“My application for the land at Yarrowkabra took so long to process that I applied for an acre of land at mocha, paid for and hence received same through legal means.”

The SARA Deputy Director said that the “cheap attempts” to tarnish his character by Nandlall and Jagdeo come as no surprise as beneficiaries of corrupt practices are often relentless in their attack of those fighting against corruption. He stated that in 2018, Jagdeo and his cabal attempted to discredit SARA and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) by publishing the names and salaries earned by all employees at SARA – a couple of whom have since been the targets of bandits in separate incidents.

Heath-Retymeyer broadly dismissed the PPP stating: “All of my life God Almighty in whom I trust has kept me from the temptation of corruption. Can either of you say the same Bharrat Jagdeo and Anil Nandlall? The entire Guyanese population knows the answer to that question. I stand ready to account for all that I have as none of it was achieved by stealing law books or prematurely selling residential land bought from CH&PA at a massive profit then buying more State land cheaply, or by falsifying university certificates, manipulating systems whenever convenient and flouting procurement procedures to give competitive advantages to friends in business.”

Meanwhile, the GLSC has since stated that it will make a formal report to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) for an investigation to be launched into the leakage of unauthorised maps to Leader of the Opposition.