Months after they were questioned by the police as part of an investigation into the award of state lands at Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara (EBD), four persons including PNCR member and attorney, James Bond and former acting Chief Executive Officer of NICIL, Colvin Heath-London are to appear in court today.
Stabroek News was reliably informed that charges were filed yesterday against Heath-London, Bond, businessman Eddie Doolal and Jermaine Richmond.
The charge is conspiracy to defraud the state.
The quartet is scheduled to appear before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Late last year, the Guyana Police Force and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) 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 deals in which Bond is alleged to have been a key financial beneficiary.
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 Trinidad’s 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 …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.
The men were all questioned by the police late last year as part of the investigation.
