Over 120 acres ECD land given to developers 1 week before elections

…caretaker Govt publishes transactions in Official Gazette 4 months later

The de facto coalition Government, less than a week before elections on February 25, sold more than 10 acres of land to a housing developer registered in the law offices of Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes.

Hughes is the husband of Public Telecommunications Minister Cathy Hughes and is the former Chairman of coalition partner Alliance For Change (AFC). He resigned from the AFC in 2016, one year after the coalition assumed office.
The sale was executed by the State-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), and signed off by caretaker Finance Minister Winston Jordan.
The information has since been documented in the Official Gazette published on June 11, more than four months after the sale of land was executed.
The transaction was executed between NICIL and The Residences at Earl’s Court Incorporated, a company with its registered offices at 62 Hadfield and Cross Streets, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown – Hughes’ law offices.

The land involved in the transaction is identified as located at Block ‘CC’ Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
According to the conditions of the sale, ‘A certified copy of this Order shall be deemed to be conclusive evidence that the Purchaser has absolute title to the property” and comprises 10.2 acres.
The sale is gazetted among a number of questionable transactions since raising eyebrows, given that the transactions comprised in excess of 100 acres of land sold one week before the elections.
Trinyuana Investments Inc, also registered at Hughes’ offices, also received the absolute title for in excess of 17 acres of land at Plantation Ogle and Goedverwagting, ECD.
That company – only recently registered in Guyana – had earlier purchased 2.61 acres of land at Ogle for a proposed hotel project.

Navigant Builders Inc, registered at Peters Hall on the East Bank of Demerara (EBD), also secured absolute title for 30 acres located at Plantation Goedverwagting and Sparendaam, ECD.
Additionally, Premium Sales and Services Inc, registered at 199 Camp Street in Georgetown, was another of the companies to receive its absolute title for more than five acres on the ECD, a week before the March 2 polls.
Caribbean Market Enterprises Inc (CMEI), registered in Thomas Street, Kitty, secured the title for 22 acres of land also at Goedverwagting and Sparendaam.
American Marine Services Inc, registered in Alexander Village, also got 20 acres of land while another company – Cardiology Services Inc of Plantation Pattensen, secured the absolute title for eight acres.
Supergraphics, registered in Alexander Street, Kitty, also secured for itself just over five acres while the Guyana Oil Company purchased the smallest plot of 1.5 acres at Ogle, ECD.
Each of the transactions were signed off by Winston Jordan, in the capacity of Finance Minister.