–unsure how long land was occupied for prior to acquisition

PROMINENT Attorney-at-Law and Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Nigel Hughes, has claimed that he purchased 50 acres of land from a man who possessed no lease for the property, which is situated on the left bank of the Essequibo River.

This claim, which Hughes made during an AFC press conference on Friday, follows a recent revelation 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 voters had cast their ballots on Polling Day.

Specifically, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Bharrat Jagdeo, made this revelation during his weekly press conference at Freedom House on Thursday, when he presented various documents.

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 on the left bank of the Essequibo River, near the mouth of Groete Creek, on October 24, 2019.

During the 2020 elections, which were stymied for five months by delay tactics of the APNU+AFC, Hughes had acquired two additional lots of 25 acres each.

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.

In an attempt to challenge those periods clearly outlined in official documents, Hughes claimed that he initiated the process of acquiring 50 acres of land from a person whom he identified as Mr. Simon Munroe, in January 2016.

“Back in January 2016, there was a gentleman called Simon Munroe who occupied and had been farming in that area. I entered into an agreement with him [on the] 28th of January 2016, and I purchased 50 acres of land from him on the left bank of the Essequibo River for the sum of $2 million,” the attorney-at-law said on Friday.

Hughes, however, admitted that at the time of the acquisition, Munroe possessed no lease for the property, which he allegedly had been occupying.

When asked how long Munroe had occupied the land, Hughes said: “I couldn’t say how long he was there. I certainly went and inspected and saw him occupying it.”

When further probed on why Munroe didn’t have a lease, Hughes first said the individual was “frustrated” and had been waiting for it, but in the same breath said: “If I recall correctly, he [Munroe] either wanted to migrate or some relative of his wanted to migrate and he needed the money.”

Aside from the Essequibo lands, Jagdeo had also pointed to the period just before the 2020 elections and after the no-confidence motion, when 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.