The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) prior to taking the reins of government, vowed to go after persons who they claimed were involved in the ‘illegal’ allocation and acquisition of state lands under the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) regime between 2015 and 2020. It said, too, that beneficiaries of such ‘fraudulent’ practices would have to return those lands. It was the then-Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo who made those statements.
Following ascension to office, the PPP/C administration said it unearthed ‘massive’ fraud at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC), and subsequently initiated processes to have those lands returned to the State. The former Head of the GL&SC, Trevor Benn has since been tacked with multiple fraud charges.
Letters were dispatched to two businesses: Care Care and Cevon’s Waste Management threatening legal action. The Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall is on record dubbing the allocations as ‘squandermania’ and “sweetheart deals at pepper corn prices”.
Now, the government has pulled a complete 360 and has announced it reached a ‘settlement’ with the companies. It was no other than VP Jagdeo, who made the revelation today. He, however, provided no details about the settlements, only to say that they will be made public shortly.
“We took a conscious decision that we will not go to the court because that would result in a setting aside of the transports… we didn’t pursue the hard line position here but there are some persons we will pursue including public officers… I would not wish at this point in time to speak about it…[But]we will make the details public when the time comes… The State will not pursue any legal action against these persons any longer,” he said.
It was reported that Wilfred Brandford, the owner of Car Care, acquired several acres of lands at Plantation Ruimveldt, Greater Georgetown, that were sold way below the market price. The Guyana Standard reported that Branford acquired the lands while serving as a Director at the GL&SC.
In the case of Cevons Waste Management, this publication is in possession of a letter issued by Nandlall to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Morse Archer, informing him that he has no right to occupy the land at Le Repentir, Georgetown.
The land belongs to the National Sports Commission (NSC), something Nandlall said that the company and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC) are well aware of. The land was leased to Cevons in December 2018 by the GLSC and was approved by the former head of the GLSC, Benn.
Nandlall said that although a substantial amount of money was paid for the lease, it was illegal on several fronts.
