THE credibility of Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader Nigel Hughes has been further undermined as documents show that he obtained 75 acres of land after the APNU+AFC government was toppled by the passage of the 2018 no-confidence motion, and during the five-month impasse after persons would have cast their vote on Polling Day.

Jagdeo made this revelation during his weekly press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, when he brought various documents to light.
According to the documents, Hughes acquired 25 acres of land during a period after the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) had ruled that the no-confidence motion against the APNU+AFC was valid.
To be specific, the document states that Hughes was first granted permission to lease 25 acres of State land at the left Bank of the Essequibo River, near the mouth of Groete Creek, on October 24, 2019.
During the 2020 elections, which was stymied for five months by delay tactics of the APNU+AFC, Hughes had acquired two additional lots of 25 acres.

Hughes was then given a provisional lease for an extra 25 acres of land on the Essequibo River’s left bank, close to Groete Creek’s mouth, on March 19, 2020. Within the same area, he obtained a second provisional lease for a further 25 acres of land.

Further, the General Secretary contended that in the period just before the 2020 elections and after the no-confidence motion, Hughes was representing a Trinidadian company, and through the National Industrial & Commercial Investments Ltd. (NICIL), the company obtained 20 acres of prime land at Ogle at $26 million per acre.
Importantly, it was Hughes who raised concerns over the PPP/C administration’s sale of land at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD) for $30 million.
Regarding the Trinidadian company, Jagdeo said: “This land was vested in them (the company) just before the elections,” adding: “Hughes was not just the lawyer for the company; the company that signed the agreement, he was an officer of the company. He became a director in that company, and he then became company secretary to the company that secured the land at $10 million per acre.”
In light of these revelations, Jagdeo said: “You notice in everything that is controversial, he has his hands in it.”

In addition to the 75 acres, Hughes also acquired another 10 acres of prime land at Earl’s Court, LBI, for just $10 million per acre, through a company in which he served as the lawyer, a director, and the company secretary.
The company secured the land under the condition that a high-end apartment building would be constructed within four years. However, despite the land being vested in the company since January 2020, no development has taken place.

APNU+AFC’S ACTIONS
The previous APNU+AFC administration had faced criticism for its slow pace of house lot allocations, and the series of questionable transactions it executed, especially when it lost the 2020 General and Regional Elections.
This week, President Dr. Irfaan Ali called out the Opposition for its audacity to even attempt to finger anyone in an allegation of misconduct, when there is documented evidence of their actions while in office.
On the East Coast of Demerara in July 2020, while the country was in limbo because of the elections, there were 23 transactions for the sale or lease of land at Plantation Ogle, Chateau Margot, and Le Ressouvenir which lacked the requisite framework.

However, it gets worse, Dr. Ali said.
As he elaborated on what occurred in 2015-2020, he contended that the APNU+AFC was “callous” in their actions.
In most of those transactions on the ECD, less than 10 per cent of the total purchase price was collected, the President revealed.

Even while the Opposition wants to preach transparency and fairness, Dr. Ali highlighted that the PPP/C government collects 30 per cent as down payment, along with a series of rigid conditions, as opposed to less than 10 per cent like the APNU+AFC did.

The President remarked that under the PPP/C, “Everyone is subject to the same conditions.”
In some instances, the APNU+AFC vested the property in the purchaser’s name with no conditions met, Dr. Ali said, adding that there were many cases of these prime State properties being undervalued.