It was the contents of a Ministry of the Presidency (MoTP) report that ignited the civil recovery investigation regarding the Pradoville 2 lands controversially obtained in 2010 by top officials of the then PPP/C administration including former president Bharrat Jagdeo.
This was disclosed by Director of the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA) Professor Clive Thomas in an interview with Stabroek News last week. The recent filing of proceedings in the High Court in relation to the matter has raised questions as to how the investigation began.
In a recent letter to Stabroek News, PPP Executive Gail Teixeira had criticised SARA after she was asked to provide information on her complaint in relation to the US$18m signing bonus. Teixeira’s argument had been that she didn’t have to do this as the documents relative to the signing bonus were in the public domain. Teixeira’s point has led to questions over how SARA initiated the Pradoville 2 probe.
Thomas told Stabroek News last Friday that information in public reports and the newspapers and from whistle-blowers can result in an investigation, once the information passes a three-tier test. The first step entails ascertaining that there is enough evidence to move forward. Secondly, the information must pertain to at least $10 million worth of state assets and the third step has to do with its priority.
With regards to the Pradoville 2 probe, the director explained that prior to the birth of SARA, the MoTP found a case that went before the Caribbean Court of Justice about some lands in Belize that were misappropriated in a similar manner as Pradoville 2. The court, he said, ruled that it was illegal.
While housed within the MoTP complex, Thomas said, the State Assets Recovery Unit, as it then was, saw the information and began an investigation.
SARA is specifically mandated to recover state property or benefits obtained through unlawful conduct by public officials or other persons.
In 2015, a special investigation of the Pradoville 2 housing development, which was part of a larger probe of the financial operations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority, revealed that the allocation of the land was a clandestine arrangement that was handled personally by then PPP/C Housing Minister Irfaan Ali. It was concluded that a criminal case for misfeasance could be made against the PPP/C Cabinet members who benefitted.
The forensic audit, which was completed in the latter part of 2015, found that lots of varying sizes were allocated to six Cabinet members – Jagdeo, then Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon and then 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 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), the National Communications Network and the Guyana Power and Light Inc, were never reimbursed for millions spent to execute preparatory works. According to SARA, NICIL/Privatisation Unit spent between $71.4 million and $85.1 million on development works in the scheme.
SARA has filed suits to recover the lands from Jagdeo, Rohee, former Housing Minister Shaik Baksh, Lisaveta Ramotar, who is the daughter of former president Donald Ramotar, businessman Ramesh Dookhoo, former Caribbean Development Bank president Professor Compton Bourne, Florrie Loretta Ramnauth, former head of the Office of Climate Change Andrew Bishop and Future Development International Inc.
These cases are likely to be stayed until the determination of an application by Ramon Gaskin in the High Court which challenges the legitimacy of the agency.
The Special Organised Crime Unit, after months of investigation, late last year also charged Ali with 19 counts of conspiracy to defraud for his alleged role in the allocations.
