Nandlall hints at forensic audit into APNU/AFC land giveaways

…says land belonging to Sports Commission given to businessman
…rights to unidentified plots of land sold in shadowy transactions

Attorney General Anil Nandlall has indicated that there is so much confusion surrounding the sale of lands under the former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government, it may warrant a forensic audit.
The Attorney General was at the time speaking on the sidelines of an event on Monday. In detailing the discoveries made since entering office, Nandlall revealed that titles were given to persons for land that had not even been demarcated.
“These lands, some of them have not yet been identified. But a document is entered into, a Memorandum of Understanding. And a huge sum of money is paid. And the MoU says the person will get a lease for an unidentified plot of land, for example somewhere in Ogle,” Nandlall related.
“I’ve never seen a transaction like that. State land is either given by permission, by lease or by title. So, you either pay a purchase price or you a license fee or a rent. Here you have an MoU and a huge sum of money is paid. And the MoU entitles the person who signed it with Lands and Surveys, to get a lease at a future date, for a plot of land yet to be identified.”

He explained that there are the cases where persons received land from the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) in the general vicinity of the Ogle bypass road. But according to Nandlall, it is not even clear whether the lands were GL&SC’s to give. So confusing are the cases that he noted a forensic audit might be required.
“One person received 200 acres of land at Ogle. And the intention is, the land will abut the highway that is being built from Ogle to Diamond. When you look at the distance, and you look at 200 acres of land, it means that almost two sides of the road are gone. And the road is running between the land,” he added.
“You don’t even know if this land is under the administration of Lands and Surveys. Or whether its GuySuCo (Guyana Sugar Corporation) lands that have gone to NICIL. So, the thing is in a horrible mess. And it stinks of unaccountability and lack of transparency.”

National Sports Commission
He said there is another case where land owned by the National Sports Commission (NSC) was among those distributed by GL&SC. Nandlall observed that according to the State lands Act, the agency should have engaged in a competitive bidding process if more than one person is interested in the land. He noted that the absence of competitive bidding is a predominant feature in these transactions.
“Some of these lands, for example, one portion of land given to someone else by the Lands and Surveys Commission, was not even owned by them and under their administration. It was owned by the National Sports Commission. And given to a businessman, who has sublet it to some food chain outlet, drawing tens of thousands of US dollars in income, per month.”
“We are compiling these cases now. Each file, a legal opinion is being written to. And then we will release some to the public and all will be passed to the police, for SOCU (Special Organised Crime Unit) to investigate. And a forensic audit may have to be commissioned, to understand what went on,” the Attorney General said.
This publication had reported a few days ago that a slew of land transactions done by the GL&SC, which resulted in certificates of titles being issued to persons for lands sold under market value, are currently under review by the Ministry of Legal Affairs.
These cases bear similarities to the distribution of land by another agency, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). Already, a number of persons have been arrested and questioned regarding the sale of land under similar circumstances by NICIL.
It has been revealed that the former APNU/AFC Government vested almost 100 acres of prime State land at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD), to eight different companies. All told, the total value of the lands is some $2.9 billion, but NICIL received only approximately $64 million in payments.
NICIL is also taking flak for the leasing of several plots of land at Peters Hall by two companies, A-Z Pharmaceuticals headed by Eddie Doolall and Life 1 Pharms Incorporated headed by Avalon Jagnanan. These lands were leased and then flipped for a profit.
Of interest too is the fact that in both lease agreements, a clause was deliberately modified to state that “the lessee may divest the land, may part with possession, may assign it to a third-party interest”.
However, Guyana’s State Lands Act stipulates that whenever State lands are leased, the lease agreement must indicate that the lessee “shall not” part with lands (possession) or “shall not” assign the interest in the said agreement without the consent of the State.