Former GL&SC boss granted $200k bail for misconduct charges

Former Head of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) Trevor Benn has been released on $200,000 bail on a misconduct in public office charge.

Benn made his court appearance today before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. He is expected to make his next court appearance on March 31.

Benn was charged in relation to the sale of some six acres of unmarked lands at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.

The Police were called in last month to probe the transaction, for which some $27 million was paid to the GL&SC but no land was marked to be allocated.

Benn was taken in on Wednesday morning for questioning into the leasing of the unidentified lands to Janico Industrial Engineering Limited, a company located at Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

Benn is being accused of defrauding the State by inducing persons by false pretense, knowing that the land in question is owned by the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).

This issue came to light last month following examination of the transaction by the current GL&SC administration, after a legal notice was received from the company’s lawyers in December 2020 demanding the six acres of land be handed over.