Nandlall debunks inaccuracies on Pradoville 2 allegations

…questions whether prosecutors will also go after Burnham’s family

Former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, is of the view that should government hold out in its contention that the Pradoville II lands and their transactions were tainted with illegalities, then by that same token, the 50 per cent salary increases it had granted itself days after taking office is also illegal.

Nandlall made his position known over the weekend when he sought to set the record straight by debunking inaccuracies being peddled in the public domain with regard the Sparendaam Housing Project commonly referred to as Pradoville II.
The former Legal Affairs Minister under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration noted that it has been argued that the then Cabinet approved a decision to give its members lands at Pradoville II, below the market value of those lands, and therefore, the Cabinet and those who received the lands did so unlawfully.
According to Nandlall, “applying the same legal logic, did the current Cabinet and its members not act unlawfully, when they gave themselves a 50 per cent retroactive increase in salary, thereby guaranteeing to each member, a pension of seven-eighths of that salary, when the public sector employees were paid a mere 5 per cent increase…In principle, state lands and public monies in the treasury are from the same genus and are all state assets.”
On the matter of the Pradoville II lands, Nandlall objected to assertions that the then government had in fact paid to remove a National Communications Network (NCN) transmission tower, in order to use the lands to develop it into a high-end residential locale.
According to Nandlall, “This is simply not the truth…In terms of time this tower was removed long before any work had begun at Pradoville II.”
In fact Nandlall pointed to the European Union-funded expansion of Ogle Airport, which included the extension of its runway to facilitate greater traffic and larger aircraft and said, “it was determined by those in charge of that project and the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority that this transmission tower was in the flight path of aircraft leaving the airport.”
He said “they requested the removal of the tower. The Government agreed to do so…That was the reason for the removal of the tower.”
Nandlall contends that as part of the misinformation, the cost and expense in relation to the dismantling, removal, transportation and reinstallation of this tower at another site are all erroneously included in the calculations by those who have attempted to assess the value of the developmental works at Pradoville II.
“This is obviously wrong and has led to exaggerated sums of money being peddled in the public domain as part of the costs of the developmental works which were done at Pradoville II,” Nandlall argues.
Market Value
Meanwhile as it relates to the cost of the properties developed at Pradoville II, Nandlall observed that “all manner of formulae have been employed by those who have attempted to calculate the value of the lands at Pradoville II.”
The former Attorney General is adamant that the price, for which the land was sold, was similar to, or comparable with, the price at which the Government sold lands under its housing programme to individuals as well as developers at that point in time.
He pointed to the sale by way of public tender, of a block of land at Liliandaal that is much closer to the City at a price of $5M per acre saying “this was the highest offer produced by a public tendering process.”
According to Nandlall, Government had similarly sold several hundred acres of land on the East Bank Demerara to private developers at around the same prices and argues, “when one calculates the value of a middle-income household, hundreds of which the Government sold for $1.2M it approximates to just under $5M per acre.”
He surmises that “this is the approximate price at which Pradoville II lots were sold.”
Moreover, Nandlall asked whether, when applying the same logic, criminal charges be instituted against the Forbes Burnham family, who received 5 acres of prime land, east of Sheriff Street, in the vicinity of the Botanical Gardens, given to them by transport, by former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The matter involving the Pradoville II properties have since been turned over to Guyana Police Force following the completion of a Forensic Audit into the transactions which pointed to purported illegalities.
The decision to have the document handed over to the Police Commissioner for investigation was made at Cabinet Meeting held on October 25, 2016.