By Telesha Ramnarine
GEORGETOWN Mayor Ubraj Narine said, on Thursday accused the Vieira-owned Houston Estates Company of trying to get City Hall into releasing compliances for various sections of land for which millions of dollars in taxes are still owed.

Consequently, the police may have to be called in if the company officials continue to refuse to meet with the City Council, Narine told reporters at a City Hall press conference.
While millions of dollars are owed on account numbers 041-000001, 042-000001 and 043-000001, Narine explained that the company used account number 044-000001 to apply for all of the compliances.

“We pulled the plan for Houston area. You have Rome north, Rome south…all these areas have different account numbers, but Houston Estates used one number to have compliance for all,” the mayor explained.

The account put forward by Houston Estates only had $125,136 in taxes owed for 2019, and this sum was cleared by the owners. The City Council thus began processing the compliances for all of the lands, including for those which fell under different accounts. Those accounts are heavy with taxes owed, each with over $100M owing on them.
Narine also explained that at a meeting held on October 4, 2017 at City Hall with former Town Clerk Royston King, what the City Council agreed on regarding the amount of taxes that the company should pay, was not accurately reflected in the letter that the Council subsequently sent to Houston Estates. As such, the mayor said dialogue is needed between the two parties to iron out this and other issues.

The secretary attached to Houston Estates had met with the City Council, but Narine said he is at a loss as to why the municipality never heard again from him. “Mr. Lopes met with us and we requested the entire plan. He mentioned to us that the transport and plan are very old. We still requested that he comes back with them so we can proceed with the transactions.”

The mayor said the City Council, last November 20, objected to the passing of the transport in favour of Plantation Houston Sugar Estate Company Limited because of the fraud that was found with the numbers.

But Deputy Mayor, Alfred Mentore, who was also present at the press conference, explained that based on advice received, the Council had to release the transport. The City Council had offered an objection on the land transport which was lodged with the registrar because of the enormous amounts owed in rates and taxes. But Redstart Investments, the company purchasing the lands, had, in return, filed an action on the City Council to have the transport released.

“We didn’t intentionally go about releasing the transport,” Mentore explained, adding, “When they filed for these compliances, they presented to us 044-000001. If they had presented the right accounts, if they had presented the other accounts with the outstanding indebtedness, we would have seen that they owed and withheld the release.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Narine said all the Council is concerned about is getting its fair share of taxes owed to it. “This money is going for development of the city, not to the mayor or councillors. This is unfair to us.”

Although many other big businesses in the City owe the Council millions of dollars, Narine said Houston Estates was pointed out because of the fraud that it tried to pull off.
He said the Council is still appealing to the owners of the company to come forward and have dialogue. Failing to do so would leave the Council with no alternative but to involve the police, the mayor said.

The deputy mayor said the Council went to the court in the first place because it was not hearing from the Vieiras. “The judge advised that we continue to pursue the action against this indebtedness. We held up the transport but decided to remove it so that Redstart could go on with their business. But the action against the Vieiras will continue.”

Redstart Investments, which owns Unicomer and other businesses in Trinidad, the British Virgin Islands and Belize, is buying over 52 acres of land in the Houston/Rome area.
Mentore said, however, that the ideal way of settling the matter would be out of court. “We don’t want to have to settle our matter in court; let’s have a frank discussion with them so we can resolve it.”

Mentore said the City Council wants the money owed to it so that it can also honour its indebtedness to various companies, such as GRA, GPL, NIS, and the credit unions and workers.