–Attorney-General Nandlall says in response to Hughes’ attempt to defend his controversial land transactions under APNU+AFC

ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Anil Nandlall, S.C., has called out Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Nigel Hughes for his “hypocrisy” and “duplicitousness,” after Hughes attempted to defend controversial land transactions he was involved in.

During a live programme on Saturday evening, the minister brought to light not only the damning land transactions under the APNU+AFC, but also focused on the acres of land obtained by Hughes after the coalition government fell.

While Hughes, during his Friday press conference, said he would welcome a full investigation into his acquisition of lands, the Attorney-General said the facts are already there and documents support it.

“There’s nothing to investigate here. Whatever I’ve disclosed to you are the facts and we have the documents,” Nandlall said.
While Hughes has made a series of claims surrounding the housing sector, the Attorney-General highlighted the “dozens” of controversial land transactions under the previous APNU+AFC administration, which Hughes is attempting to distance himself from.

Speaking about the transactions in just Ogle, East Coast Demerara, Nandlall said: “There was no evidence, in relation to these transactions that I am referring to and all the others that I have made reference to, of any process whatsoever inviting the public to bid for these lands.”

The current government is still looking for an indication as to how those individuals knew prime state lands were available.
“This here is the epitome of the lack of transparency and lack of accountability, whimsical fixing of the price for the land, violent breaches of every single agreement of sale and then vesting of the land, the state conferring title to the purchasers without a cent being paid,” he said.

Speaking more on the agreements in Ogle under the APNU+AFC, the Attorney-General pointed out that some of these agreements were not even fully honoured.
For instance, in some situations, less than 10 per cent of the purchase price was received despite the agreement stating that it must be 50 per cent, and the titles were vested to persons who did not even pay a cent of the balance that was required during the prescribed time frame.

Further, all of those transactions were done after the passage of the 2018 no-confidence motion, and during the five-month impasse after persons would have cast their vote on polling day.
“In electoral politics there are two fundamental pillars, one is trust and the other is track record,” he said.

Nandlall stated that a politician’s track record determines how committed he/she is to keeping his/her promises, as the electorate does not have a crystal ball to determine credibility.
Given Hughes’ recent comments on the housing sector, the Attorney-General said that it must be understood that the attorney-at-law is now leading the AFC and is the party’s presidential candidate and hence, his actions are centred on appealing to the electorate.

Now, the public must look at the party’s track record to determine Hughes’ sincerity, the minister said.
“There’s a constant and very deliberate attempt by him to distance himself from that government [APNU+AFC]. The Alliance For Change was a coalition partner in that government and he is the Leader of the Alliance For Change. So that government was his government,” Attorney-General Nandlall said.

Hughes 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.

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 brought various documents to light.

In response to this, Hughes, on Friday, claimed that he had 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.

According to documents revealed by Jagdeo, 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.”