The Ministry of Housing today produced a cheque it claimed was issued by Region Ten Chairman Mortimer Mingo as payment for land at Pradoville 2.
Mingo could not be contacted this afternoon for comment.
The ministry said that the cheque for $1.5 million was dishonoured by the bank and produced the evidence to this effect.
The cheque, made out to the Central Housing and Planning Authority, was signed by Mingo but did not state what the money was for.
This revelation by the ministry is in response to the regional chairman denying he was allocated land in ‘Pradoville 2’, following testimony by Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon in court that he (Mingo) was among several African Guyanese allocated land at the Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara housing development.
Mingo’s statement said in part “I have not signed any agreement or condition of sale or paid any money for any land at Sparendaam, or have I received any lease, title or transport for that land from the Government of Guyana. In fact I have never seen the land”.
Luncheon is the chief witness in President Bharrat Jagdeo’s $10 million libel suit against Kaieteur News and Columnist Freddie Kissoon.
Housing Minister Irfaan Ali, at a media briefing this afternoon, called Stabroek News “biased and irresponsible” for not contacting the ministry for comment as was done with Mingo.
In response to the Minister’s statement, Stabroek News Editor-in-Chief Anand Persaud said that the record would show that neither Ali nor the Central Housing and Planning Authority has been willing to answer any questions from Stabroek News on Pradoville 2. To the contrary, he said both have evaded questions and this has fuelled the serious concerns about the propriety of the scheme.
