Several of the persons who were controversially sold land at below market prices in the ‘Pradoville 2 Housing Scheme’ have reached settlements with the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) by paying the difference for their respective plots, according to the organisation’s Director, Professor Clive Thomas, who says that every effort will be made give to the others a similar opportunity before the court is approached for civil recovery.
“The [State Assets Recovery] bill requires us to negotiate settlements if we can. So, as to save the state resources of having to go to court and make pleadings… we started negotiations with the principals and we’ve had settlements,” Thomas told Sunday Stabroek, while declining to identify those who have settled thus far.
It was the Guyana Police Force’s legal adviser, retired judge Claudette Singh, who recommended that the agency “go this route,” he said.
A special investigation of the Sparendaam Housing Project, referred to Pradoville 2, which was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), was conducted by accounting firm Ram & McRae in the latter part of 2015. The investigation revealed that the allocation of the land was a clandestine arrangement that was handled personally by Ali and it was concluded that a criminal case for misfeasance could be made against the PPP/C Cabinet members who benefitted.
Lots were allocated to six Cabinet members—former president Bharrat Jagdeo, cabinet secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and ministers Priya Manickchand, Dr Jennifer Westford, Robert Persaud and Clement Rohee—along with other persons with connections to the then government. Among the other beneficiaries are Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack and former Chief-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force Gary Best.
The forensic audit found that awardees grossly underpaid for the lots by a total of nearly $250 million, while the state-owned National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), National Communications Network (NCN) and Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) were never reimbursed for millions spent to execute preparatory works.
The findings of the investigation were later referred to SOCU for a criminal probe to be launched.
Ali was recently charged in connection with the sale of the lands.
Following his arrest and subsequent questioning by SOCU, Persaud, a former Minister of Natural Resources, had hinted that he would be ready to settle the price difference with the state, if it proves that the land was sold to him at an undervalued price.
(Persaud bought 0.3030 of an acre of land in 2007 for $1.5 million. Five years later he sold the property for $90 million.)
The PPP/C’s legal representative, Anil Nandlall, has however said that Jagdeo and other former ministers have “ruled out” this option.
‘Recovery’
Joined by the Deputy Director, Aubrey Heath-Retemyer, Thomas told Sunday Stabroek that Pradoville is another target area for the agency and was among the cases that should have been brought before the court within the third quarter of this year.
Before explaining what caused the delay in initiating court proceedings, he said SARA has started the civil recovery process.
Thomas informed this newspaper that given the agency’s confidential arrangement with the parties concerned, he could not disclose specific details, including who have settled. He said that this information will be contained in the agency’s report, which has to be submitted within three months of the end of this year. Unless presented in the National Assembly, this information cannot be made public.
Thomas did mention that the settlements reached so far pertained to what ought to have been the price at which the plots of land were sold. Such settlements, he maintained, is one of the agency’s mandates. “What we are hoping for is to exhaust this process before we take the others to court,” he said, while stressing that the agency is willing to go the extra mile to recover the price difference, which rightfully belongs to the state.
Heath-Retemyer, on the other hand, explained that the agency will probably end up recovering around $200 million once things work out favourably. He said if the agency goes to court for each homeowner, it will come at a cost and therefore the agency opted to utilise the settlement option first.
According to Thomas, in this case the beneficiaries can pay upfront or settle for the price that “we intend to take them to court for…. That price, I think, is a fair price. I honestly think it is. It’s higher than the price that was recommended in the forensic audit, so they can’t say that we undervalued the assets.”
With regards to the matters that should have been before the court in the third quarter, the two officials explained that the issue was two-fold: in the case of Pradoville, it was the activation of the settlement mechanism and in the other matters there were issues with assessing vital pieces of information.
Thomas, speaking about Pradoville, explained to this newspaper that the mechanism of settlement appeared and “we were advised that we should pursue this first.” As a result of this, the planned court proceedings, which involved 19 persons, were put on hold.
He said the negotiation process has started and will continue but added that “Some people are not recommended for going this route because their involvement has sufficient criminality to it …so let the courts deal with it as a criminal matter.”
Thomas reminded that under the SARA Act, the agency is recovering on the basis of civil recovery, while SOCU and other organisations are looking for criminal convictions.
“As a result of this difference they [SOCU and others] have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that that is what has happened. We have to prove at the balance of probability that if, for example, you argue that nobody will sell this land if they owned it or it belonged to them, for $1.5 million, because they knew it would be worth more, we got to make that argument and …ask the court to consider that this is not a regular transaction, this is a misconduct underlying it but in the case of SOCU they would have to prove that it was a conspiracy among the people …in order to steal from the government,” he said.
‘Painstaking’
Heath-Retemyer assured that four other cases are being readied. He explained that Pradoville was one of five that “we thought we would be able to arrest in the third quarter.”
He noted that the agency has to wait on information to convert into evidence and “this is extremely painstaking. This is not dependent on SARA staff.” According to the Deputy Director, SARA would request information from other agencies, which in turn have to assign persons to go looking. He reminded that most of this information is contained in paper form, which has resulted in a challenge. “You ask somebody to go into a room to rummage through several dozen boxes and the person may or may not be diligent to find what you are looking for,” he said, before adding that based on the agency’s observations, information needed is being stored under all kinds of suboptimal conditions.
He said that because of this situation, the work of the agency is being delayed. “It happens time and time again,” he said.
Sources have said that although Ali has been charged, the criminal investigation is still ongoing as SOCU is actively pursuing matters against the other former Cabinet members.
“They are doing an investigation in relation to charging the Cabinet,” a source told this newspaper earlier this month, while noting that investigators are working on gathering the necessary evidence.
In September this year, Jagdeo, Ali, Manickchand, who was the Human Services Minister, former Transport Minister Robeson Benn, former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, former Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir, former Minister of Amerindian Affairs Pauline Sukhai; former Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall and former Health Minister Dr.Bheri Ramsaran were all hauled in for questioning about a 2010 Cabinet meeting, where the allocations of parcels of land and other matters concerning the housing scheme were discussed.
Reporters were told that the former ministers were accused of conspiring with each other to have the lands in question transferred to CH&PA.
Some of the former ministers were shown a document which has a similar format to cabinet documents and asked several questions. The document shown was unsigned and their lawyer had argued that all Cabinet documents and decisions are confidential.
Jagdeo, who was the last of the group to visit SOCU, declined to respond to questions from investigators, invoking his presidential immunity from prosecution. He later declared his readiness to defend himself in court if charges are brought against him.
