Former Minister of Finance Winston Jordan was questioned on Tuesday by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) in relation to the ongoing probe into the award of state lands at Peters Hall, East Bank of Demerara (EBD), an engagement which he said appears to have been aimed at seeking clarifications.
In an invited comment yesterday, Jordan told Stabroek News that he was contacted on Tuesday morning and invited to SOCU’s Camp Road office later the said day.
He complied and showed up accompanied by his lawyer, Roysdale Forde.
“I was called in, I don’t know for what reason. When I got there, they asked me questions…What I was in charge of and so on. I mean they didn’t put any particular question to me. The land deal at Peters Hall is a lease and it has nothing to do with me,” he said.
Jordan said during the process, no allegation was put to him.
“No allegation was put to me in respect of any matter. What they put to me was (what) were my duties as Minister in the context of NICIL? Whether I was the person in charge of NICIL and what was my role essentially and then I think they asked whether my role included anything to do with Peters Hall and I said ‘not really’ because my role is limited to what is under the Public Corporations Act,” Jordan explained.
Rather, he said he was asked to clarify “certain things”, which he did.
“It was nothing out of the ordinary… It’s just that I was asked to clarify certain things and I did….I helped clarify things for them… in terms of procedures and so on and so forth,” Jordan said.
The former Minister thinks that SOCU was looking for “more information”.
“The truth of the matter is I don’t even know why I am being asked. I can’t put myself in their shoes really so there is nothing to ask me really. Everything that I would have done in the context of being a Minister is gazetted…I don’t know that they have a difficulty with that. I think they probably looking for some other stuff,” he said.
Before the meeting concluded, Jordan said he was asked if any further help is needed whether he could be contacted and he responded in the positive.
The Guyana Police Force and SOCU late last year received three files from Attorney General Anil Nandlall for the investigation of leases for several acres of prime state lands at Peters Hall, EBD, which were done without any valuation, public advertisement or Cabinet decisions.
SOCU has been investigating the circumstances surrounding the land deal in which prominent member of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), attorney James Bond is alleged to have been a key financial beneficiary of the deals.
Bond allegedly arranged several of the land deals and benefitted from the sale of the lease rights.
At the time he was also supposedly looking after the interest of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), which was presiding over the leasing of the lands.
During investigations, Bond was arrested and placed on $200,000 bail after being detained for 72 hours. While in police custody he was questioned about the award of state lands.
The transaction which saw the monies deposited into Bond’s account, pertains to a Caribbean joint-venture for a chemical storage facility between GLASS Holdings and Trinidadian Lennox Petroleum.
Bond, it is alleged, was the recipient of some US$952,800 for the sale of lease rights for the Peters Hall lands.
In the case of Arken Group Inc, located at 34 Third Street, Alberttown, it was leased 20.8 acres in four plots by NICIL– three at 5 acres and the other at 5.8 acres. The lands were not advertised and as such there was no Board or Cabinet approval of the deal. The date of execution of the lease was stated as 9th May, 2018, and the company agreed to a 20-year lease.
The annual cost for the lease was US$16,224. For the 20-year period, it would mean that the company would have been required to pay US$324,480.
No restrictions were applied and the business sold its leasehold rights of 10 acres to GLASS Holdings Inc on October 10, 2019 for $200 million. GLASS Holdings paid the sum in two installments of US$195,000 and US$757,000 and according to the terms of their agreement with ARKEN, was given an irrevocable Power of Attorney. They were required to continue payments and meet the terms of the lease.
However, according to Managing Director of GLASS Holdings Inc, Glenn Low-A-Chee, when he went to pay his lease fee he was shocked to learn that the deal had come under scrutiny.
“The Lease Agreement and all documents and procedures to effect the transfer of the Leasehold/ Lessee rights from ARKEN to GLASS Holdings were prepared and processed in compliance with the lease (number provided) and the general rules governing the lease transfer,” Low-A-Chee wrote to new NICIL Chairman Radha Krishna Sharma, as he enquired about the purchase of the lease.
“Pending the completion of the documentation process, we had visited NICIL in early March and again in August 2020 in an attempt to pay our lease fees as the new Lessee and we were advised by Mr. Winston Mingo, Accounts Receivable Clerk in the Accounts Department, NICIL, that there was a pending jurisdictional/ restructuring issue between NICIL and Ministry of Business regarding the collection of lease fees, and as such our payment was not accepted/processed. We were advised to follow up at a later date regarding the payments,” he explained to Sharma.
A number of other persons including businessman Eddie Doolal and former acting Chief Executive Officer of NICIL Colvin Heath-London, have been questioned as part of the investigation.
Just last week, former Minister of Public Health Volda Lawrence was questioned regarding monies transferred from Bond’s account to hers.
