The State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) has filed civil proceedings against former President Bharrat Jagdeo and six other persons who purchased land at ‘Pradoville 2’ below market prices, Director Clive Thomas disclosed yesterday before adding that more cases to recover “stolen” state assets will be filed before the year ends.
Thomas revealed that a total of eight cases were filed last Friday to go after persons who are in possession of state assets. Aside from Jagdeo, the other defendants are former Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee, former Housing Minister Shaik Baksh, Lisaveta Ramotar, who is the daughter of former president Donald Ramotar, businessman Ramesh Dookhoo, former Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) president Professor Compton Bourne, and Florrie Loretta Ramnauth.
The cases concern parcels 241, 246,175,240, 243,174,183 and 173.
The court is yet to fix a date or assign a judge to hear the cases.
Nigel Hughes is the lead attorney and he will be supported by the agency’s in-house attorneys, Ronald Bostwick and Brenden Glasford.
SARA is specifically mandated to recover state property or benefits obtained through unlawful conduct by public officials or other persons.
Speaking to Stabroek News at his Main Street office yesterday, Thomas said that the filing of the cases comes after the closure of an initial window for out-of-court settlements came to an end. The law required the agency to negotiate settlements if possible and it was in this regard that the Guyana Police Force’s legal adviser, retired judge Claudette Singh, recommended that this option be explored. The window for settlements closed at the end of last year.
Joined by his deputy, Aubrey Heath-Retemyer, and Bostwick, Thomas explained that with the ‘Pradoville 2’ matter, the agency took a decision to categorise the cases. The persons named in the cases filed thus far fall into the category of those who still remain in possession of the plots allocated to them, he said. He added the other categories comprise others who are believed to be the “intellectual authors” of the conspiracy to create unlawful conduct, and those who have broken the law further by reselling the land allocated to them.
“We have started this [court] process because we have completed and shut the window… for settlements… there may be other settlements coming out of other cases, we don’t know yet, but we will always create that opportunity because it is a low cost way of getting back the state’s assets. We don’t have to invest in carrying the cases to court, so we would prefer to go that route if we can, providing that we get the full value for these assets” he said.
According to Thomas, in the cases where settlements were reached, the sums were in excess of what the ‘Pradoville 2’ forensic audit had estimated should be the claim made against those beneficiaries. “In fact what we have tried to do is to establish a fair value for what we think the assets are worth in terms of being lost to Guyana,” he added.
Thomas, in response to a question posed by this newspaper, explained that all the other beneficiaries have not settled. He reiterated that the ‘Pradoville 2’ matter is being looked at in groups and the commonality in the persons who had cases filed against them is that they are still in possession of the land.
Additionally, Bostwick reiterated that it is believed that there are persons who are the “architects of the fraud that lead to lands being passed over to the ones who have them at the moment.”
He said what was common in the proceedings filed on Friday is that the legally required procedures emanating from the Cen-tral Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) were not carried out. He did not elaborate.
Thomas, while contending that the defendants in the cases filed are in possession of state assets, signaled that “this is gonna be the start of a series of cases that we hope to roll out with increasing frequency for the rest of this year.”
Heath-Retemeyer said that some of the other cases that will be taken to court arose out of forensic referrals and other recommendations. He stressed the “painstaking process” associated with investigating and preparing cases for civil litigation.
A special investigation of the Sparendaam Housing Project, referred to as ‘Pradoville 2,’ which was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the 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 then Housing Minister Irfaan 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—Jagdeo, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and ministers Priya Manickchand, Dr Jennifer Westford, Robert Persaud and 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 the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) for a criminal probe to be launched.
Ali was charged late last year in connection with the sale of the lands.
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.
