THE Government of Guyana will no longer be prosecuting the businessmen who benefitted from controversial land deals under the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) administration.
This is according to Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, who told a press conference on Friday that settlements have been reached with the proprietors of Car Care and Cevon’s Waste Management Inc, Wilfred Brandford and Morse Archer, respectively. “We don’t want to penalise unsuspecting businessmen,” Jagdeo said.
In light of the fact that the agreements are currently being finalised, Jagdeo declined to give specifics of what the new arrangements will entail, but did indicate that the Government “will make the details public when the time comes”.

He also confirmed that a main element of the settlement will see the government backing down from its previous efforts to have the aforementioned businessmen face legal action as a means of repossessing the lands. “… many of them were unsuspecting; and these are businessmen that we want to see succeed,” Jagdeo reasoned.
He said that similar agreements were reached with Courtney Benn Construction Services Limited.
The Vice-President related that the government is of the firm belief that it was public officers such as Trevor Benn, the former Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC), who are responsible, and should be held accountable for the illegalities committed within the last five years. “We want to go after the people who acted illegally, and we believe they took benefits for these transactions,” Jagdeo said.

It was only last week that Benn was slapped with his third charge of misconduct while in public office. He is being accused of enabling the sale of lands valued at $100 million to Cevon’s Waste Management Inc., despite not having the authority to do so. The lands, owned by the National Sports Commission, were being leased for a period of 50 years.
In February, Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, S.C. wrote to the company’s owner, Morse Archer, instructing him to vacate the said land or face legal proceedings.
Nandlall had further highlighted in his letter that Benn did not possess lawful authority to promise to sell the lands to Cevons Waste Management Inc., as that authority is vested in the President. This point was reiterated by Jagdeo on Friday. “President Granger did not give him the authority to sell; he sold land that he didn’t even have in his jurisdiction,” Jagdeo said.
Archer had previously said in his defence that his company followed all guidelines and legal procedures in the purchase of the land, and expressed hope of a resolution void of any legal showdown.

Archer had explained that the lands were purchased in 2018, and that $80 million has already been paid. He related that as per the written agreement with GL&SC, he was told that the transport for the land would take three years to be transferred to him, after which the outstanding payment of $20 million would be made.
Strangely enough, Archer highlighted that even though he received a government evaluation, putting the value of the land at $47 million, he was approached by the Commission, and they were asking for $100M for it.

Earlier in April, Benn had also appeared in court to answer to chargers relating to the sale of two additional parcels of land to Car Care’s Wilfred Brandford, who was, at the time, a former member of the Board of Directors of the GL&SC. The charge had stated that the parcels of land were sold to Brandford for $13.5 million, despite their being initially valued at $60 million.
Further, in March, Benn was accused of leasing six acres of land at Plantation Ogle, East Coast Demerara, to JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited at a cost of $27 million.
According to Jagdeo, Benn was not the only government official involved in questionable land deals. “I can go down the long list of illegal sale of lands,” the Vice-President maintained.