The members of the special team being assembled to prosecute the alleged criminal offences stemming from the sale of land at the ‘Pradoville 2’ Housing Scheme have been chosen, Minister of State Joseph Harmon has revealed.
“Yes we have names. The Attorney-General returned to Cabinet with names which Cabinet has no objection to, Harmon told Stabroek News last week, he added that the names included local persons and some from abroad.
Harmon declined to provide the names of those who would comprise the team but said that in due course this information will be released to the public.
Over a month ago, Harmon had told reporters that the Attorney-General would be identifying persons with the capacity, legal training and background to prosecute the case, which involves the sale of land to former president Bharrat Jagdeo, members of his former Cabinet and other officials for far below actual market price.
“There have always been special prosecutors. All that is required is that the Director of Public Prosecutions gives her fiat. Generally, unless there are strong reasons against it, this fiat is given. The AG had been asked to identify persons to do the prosecution. These are not the persons doing the investigation, the police will be investigating,” he had also said.
It is unclear if the DPP Shalimar Ali-Hack will be engaged in any aspect of the case as she is one of those who benefited from the land sales.
The special investigation of the Sparendaam Housing Project, which was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), found that Ali-Hack was one of the persons who paid for a lot and was issued with a Certificate of Title but had not started construction.
The report stated that given that she was an allottee, she should therefore not be involved in the matter. It was suggested that in deciding the precise action to be taken, government may wish to consult with a Senior Counsel.
The investigation revealed that the allocation of the land was a clandestine arrangement that was handled personally by former housing minister Irfaan Ali and it was concluded that a criminal case for malfeasance can be made against the PPP/C Cabinet members who benefited.
Accounting firm Ram & McRae, which conducted the forensic audit, found that awardees grossly underpaid for the lots by a total of nearly $250 million, while the state-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), National Communications Network (NCN) and Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) were never reimbursed for millions spent to execute preparatory works.
“Our examination leads to the conclusion that the project was done outside of the established procedures and that Minister Ally [sic] piloted every aspect of the transaction without recourse to the Authority. While the minister has considerable powers under the Housing Act, his role in the issue of titles was well outside of his functions and powers,” the final report, which seen by Stabroek News, said.
The report added that the awardees made payments to the CH&PA but these were significantly lower than the market value. “No files were maintained by CHPA for any of the plots allocated by a process that can be described as lacking transparency at best,” it further said.
It was stated that of the 28 lots, totalling 12.1187 acres, only 3.9693 remain unallocated.
It was explained that lots were allocated to six Cabinet members—former president Bharrat Jagdeo, cabinet secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and ministers Priya Manickchand, Dr Jennifer Westford, Robert Persaud and Clement Rohee—along with other persons with connections to the government.
Following the completion of the audit and the handing over of the report, the matter was handed over to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) for a criminal proceedings to be conducted.
The last word from SOCU head Sydney James was that the matter was being investigated. This newspaper was unable to establish if the investigation was nearing completion. There has been no indication that any of those allotted land was called in for questioning.
