Seven months after government promised action having discovered that the historic Red House was leased to a private company associated with the PPP/C for next to nothing, there has been none.
Aside from a meeting with representatives of the Management Committee of Red House in October last year, there have been no clear signs that the government is serious about scrapping the deal and retaking possession of the prime piece of real estate which belongs to the State.
Observers say that swift action was expected particularly since the shocking disclosure was made in the National Assembly. They say that this clear inaction on the part of the government is a worrying sign and is a major failure on its part.
Attorney General Basil Williams, who on the instructions of President David Granger had been given the task to look at all the options available to terminate the lease, had told Stabroek News in January that another meeting was scheduled with the team shortly.
However, when Stabroek News spoke to him last Tuesday he said that no meeting had taken place. “Well we never met,” he said.
Last August, Minister of State Joseph 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. The government had labelled the deal “criminal” and had signalled its intention to investigate it. It had also made it clear its intent of revoking the lease and possibly having the work of other presidents housed there.
The executive members of the company to whom the lease was granted were identified as senior members of the PPP/C.
The team which had met Williams at his Carmichael Street office comprised Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran and PPP Executive member Hydar Ally.
Asked by Stabroek News if he plans to meet the officials again, he responded in the affirmative but said “Don’t forget at the end of the day this matter is an easy matter to settle.”
He later said that the settling of the matter is “within the realm of the President.”
Williams reiterated that Red House is state property.
Asked if a decision has been made to take it back, he responded, “Well, not necessarily. We really haven’t addressed our minds to it since the last time.” But he stressed that government does plan to address the issue.
The controversial lease agreement was finalized some time in 2012 after the then PPP/C government had spent millions to renovate Red House. It was only after the APNU+AFC government took office that the lease arrangement was discovered.
It is unclear if the property is still being used by the Cheddi Jagan Research Inc for the purposes intended; that is a research centre containing material on the late president and PPP founding father Dr Cheddi Jagan.
Based on what is coming from government officials it would appear that the proper protocol involving a public advertisement was not followed.
Within two months of the revelation which raised
eyebrows, it was revealed by Harmon that if necessary, the government was prepared to take legal action to ensure that the lease was rescinded. There has since been no word on this.
Among those who have criticized the deal is former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran who has called for its revocation. “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 wrote.
It had been revealed that government was pursuing a civil settlement as opposed to criminal proceedings. At the beginning government had said that the arrangement in its present form was criminal as it was nothing more than a “sweetheart deal.”
“When you are dealing with persons who, in the face of an open and a blatant wrong, actually feel that that wrong is a right, you are actually dealing with a group of persons who, in my view…, have a very twisted logic or a very twisted perception of morality or what is right or what is wrong. Because there is nowhere I can see, in any part of the world, where something that belongs to the state can be transferred in that manner to a small group of persons and you can still consider that to be right,” Harmon had said during an interview with Stabroek News.
Though Stabroek News has not spoken about the issue with former president Donald Ramotar, who has been identified as a member of the company, he had told another section of the media that he saw nothing wrong with the deal or government paying the staff at the location even though the property had been leased.
Some legal professionals have said the issue ought to be taken to court, where it can be properly dealt with. Others believe that in an effort to save money and time, the administration should scrap the lease and let the PPP/C decide on whether it will fight the decision in court.
