Attorney General Basil Williams yesterday said that the evidence so far is that the 99-year leasing of the historic Red House to the Cheddi Jagan Research Inc. by the former government was clearly undervalued and in keeping with norms could attract a criminal charge.
Williams is currently reviewing the legal options available to have the controversial lease rescinded following a directive from President David Granger.
During a press conference held at his Carmichael Street office, he said that he was asked for an opinion on the deal and the matter is being addressed by his chambers.
“On a first glance, first real look at it…it seems to me what we had was a sale, a forfeited sale of state lands under the guise of a lease and of course it would have been at a gross undervalue”, he said.
Williams made mention of a similar case where according to him senior officials in the former administration sold state lands grossly undervalued to their own company for their own benefit and this resulted in the state suffering a loss.
“But that (Red House) is prime property and the market value of that property as you know in that area will be very, very high…a 99-year lease is virtually a transport and for you to have given them transport or sold it to them that would run into tens of millions of dollars for prime piece of property”, he said.
The government has already labelled the deal criminal and has signalled its intention investigate it.
It was during the budget debate in August that Harmon had disclosed that the PPP/C administration had granted a 99-year lease of Red House to the Cheddi Jagan Research Inc., a private company, at a rate of $1,000 per month. He also said that although the building was leased to the private company, the state continued to pay the salaries of the staff.
In a recent interview Harmon stated that government is willing to pursue legal action if necessary. The executive members of the company have been listed as former president Donald Ramotar, Geoffrey Da Silva, Nadira Jagan-Brancier, James Rose, Michael Khan, Kellawan Lall, Mohammed Sattaur and Hydar Ally.
The lease agreement was finalized sometime in 2012, after the then government had spent millions to renovate Red House. It was only after the APNU+AFC government took office that it was discovered.
It would appear that the proper protocol which is a public advertisement was not followed.
Among those who have criticized the deal is former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran who has called for the revocation of the lease. “Considering that this building was completely refurbished at enormous costs to the state, the shock was even greater to learn that the property was leased since 2012 to this company for a nominal sum of $1,000 per month for a period of 99 years. To add salt to injury, the staff of the centre continued to be paid by the treasury,” he wrote in his Stabroek News column on accountability.
“The agreement should therefore be rescinded, and those responsible should be held personally responsible for this abuse/misuse of public resources, which by definition constitutes an act of corruption,” he posited.
