CH&PA probing another house lot scam

The Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) says it is investigating a scam in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) involving the sale of lands by an individual not authorised to conduct business on behalf of the agency.
The issue was brought to the CH&PA’s attention and indicates that a woman, claiming to represent the agency, scammed several persons of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Last week two men visited our Regional Housing Office to enquire of lands they paid for, only to be told that the agency does not have any records of transacting business with them. The men related to housing officials at the Regional Office that they were approached by a woman claiming that she could have gotten lands for them through the agency at a reduced cost,” the CH&PA said on Wednesday.
According to the agency, one of the men paid the woman $150,000 for three house lots with a balance of $180,000 for, his children while another paid $70,000 with a balance of $60,000.
The CH&PA further stated that there are several other instances of the same scam artist eliciting money from vulnerable people, but noted that the victims are unwilling to come forward. The agency will be turning the matter over to the Police, however, persons are asked to be on the alert for scammers.
All payments relating to the sale of land or housing units from the Central Housing and Planning Authority must be done at the agency’s Georgetown head office, Regional Housing Offices or Regional Democratic Council.
Just recently, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) Regional Housing Officer Omesh Sasenarayan, along with his deputy, Safeia Razak, was accused of unlawfully collecting monies from persons for house-lots in the region.
According to reports, earlier in the year, the Housing Officer allegedly collected the sum of $50,000 as payment for a house lot but issued a personal receipt instead of an official one, converting the money to his own use. It is reported that Razak acted in collaboration with him.
The woman, he sold the land to visited the Regional Democratic Office for an update on the progress of her transaction only to be told that there were no records and the receipt she had in her possession was fake. She then ventured to office of the Central Housing and Planning Authority at Brickdam, Georgetown and it was revealed that there were no records of the transaction.