– police, SOCU to investigate transactions

A LAWYER who is closely attached to the executive of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) has reportedly received US$1M for state lands sold under questionable circumstances at Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara.

According to documents seen by this publication, the land was sold to a company connected to the Oil and Gas Industry; however, the money did not go to the owner but instead to the attorney.

This was also confirmed by documents from the National Industrial and Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) on divestments of lands on East Bank Demerara.
In one of the deals, 15 acres of land was leased to a company for US$11,000 annually but that company sold the land to a Chinese national for GUY$100.
According to documents, the same lawyer also drafted another agreement for 15 acres of land at Peter’s Hall for a company, Arken Group of Companies of Alberttown.
However, there is no public record of this company owning any assets, but the same company then sold the said plot of land to a Chinese national for GY$200M (US$1M).
That US$1M was deposited into the account of the lawyer.

According to Attorney-General, Anil Nandlall, in a televised interview, Government is going ahead with its promised investigations into the giveaway of prime State lands during the APNU+AFC administration.

“If this is not wrong doing then I am not sure… I cannot imagine how a person can pay US$11,000 which by itself is a great undervalue for the land and… does not divest for more but for GY$100. Obviously, you have money laundering implications, you have fraud,” he said.

MONEY LAUNDERING AND FRAUD
Nandlall said the police as well as the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) will have to now step in since it appears that there are elements of money laundering and fraud associated with the transactions.

“Obviously, you have money laundering implications, you have fraud. So, this will be passed to the police and SOCU and we will get the legal advice and the investigation will begin…. This (transactions) is organised crime in my view and got elements of money laundering and fraud and corruption,” he posited.
He noted that some persons have already taken steps to relinquish their interest in lands obtained under questionable circumstances and the Government is prepared to work with them to obtain lands using a transparent process.

The AG noted that the process is one where the public is involved and the allocations are to be transparent and at fair prices.
“The companies must show that they would be able to deliver on the projects that they want the lands for. So, they have to have financial backings, they must do a feasibility of the project… so you have to have a project and it has to be properly examined and every person who qualify will get portions of land,” he noted.

PRACTICALLY GIVEN AWAY
The Legal Affairs Minister disclosed that almost 50 acres of land were practically given away, through three different NICIL agreements on lands at Peter’s Hall under the previous administration.

The beneficiary, who is a People National Congress (PNC) official, was listed as the same lawyer on record for drafting of the three contracts.
“The money was paid into the account of the lawyer and it is the very lawyer who drafted these leases………………….. Two payments totalling US$1M into a commercial bank with the lawyer’s name and his address,” Nandlall said.

Nandlall explained that, as Government continues with the review of all the land transactions, it is finding that the APNU+AFC flouted all processes used to lease or divest lands owned by the State.

He added that there was no public process whereby members of the public would have been invited to either express an interest or put in a bid or make an offer to buy lands.
“There is no principle governing or evidence of any principle governing how the prices were determined. There is no valuation certificate on record, there is no market value assessment done or at least there is no evidence of it anywhere. So, one does not know how a particular price was arrived at for these lands,” he explained.

The AG revealed that in instances where the lands were gifted away, the previous administration did not ask for any evidence of proposed projects to be executed on the lands, nor did it assess how the usage of the land will impact the economy and benefit the Guyanese people.

“In terms of purchase price, there appears to be no principles governing how much will be paid down and when the balance will be paid. Because you have lands that are valued $600M, that’s the purchase price – how they arrived at the purchase price remains a mystery – but $500,000 is paid down and possession is given to the purchaser. There are cases where not a single cent is paid down and title is granted to the purchasers. That is the extent of the whim, caprice and I daresay corruption that permeated these transactions,” he informed.
A total of 30 acres was leased, in 15-acre blocks, to two companies with both companies having identical leases for identical blocks of land at an identical rental fee of US$11,700 per year for an identical 20 years.

Ironically, both leases were signed on the same date – May 17, 2018. One of the companies has its address listed at EE Eccles, EBD while the other is listed at Grove Public Road, EBD.