Charges were yesterday laid against four persons, including PNCR member and attorney James Anthony Bond and former acting Chief Executive Officer of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Colvin Heath-London, who are accused of conspiring to defraud the state through the unsanctioned disposal of land at Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara.
The charges were read to Bond, businessman Eddie Doolal and Jermaine Richmond at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court 1.
Heath-London was not present for the proceedings.
Both Bond and Health-London face three charges.
The particulars of the first charge that was read states that Heath-London, Bond and Doolal, between August 1st, 2017 and November 30th, 2020, at Georgetown, conspired together and with others to defraud NICIL and its sole shareholder, the Government of Guyana, of property interest in land, namely the Grant of a Lease of lands known as plot A7, A8, A20 Plantation Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, owned by NICIL, without the necessary Board and Cabinet approval to do same and for the purposes other than that of NICIL.
The second charge states that Heath-London and Bond, between August 1, 2017 and November 30, 2020, at Georgetown, conspired together and with others to defraud NICIL and its sole shareholder, the Government of Guyana, of property interest in land, namely the Grant of a Lease of lands known as plot A17, A18 and A19 Plantation Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, owned by NICIL, without the necessary Board and Cabinet approval to do same and for the purposes other than that of NICIL.
A third charge states that Heath-London, Bond and Richmond, between August 1, 2017 and November 30, 2020, they conspired together and with others to defraud NICIL and its sole shareholder, the Government of Guyana, of property interest in land, namely the Grant of a Lease of lands known as plot A1, A2, A3, A4 Plantation Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara, owned by NICIL, without the necessary Board and Cabinet approval to do same and for the purposes other than that of NICIL.
Bond was granted $50,000 bail on each of the three charges, while Doolal and Richmond were granted bail in the sum of $100,000 each.
They are expected to make their next court appearance on April 19, 2021.
The accused were represented by attorneys Nigel Hughes, Darren Wade and Satyesh Kissoon.
Late last year, the Guyana Police Force and the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) received three files from Attorney General Anil Nandlall for the investigation of leases for several acres of prime state land at Peters Hall, EBD, which were done without any valuation, public advertisement or Cabinet decisions.
SOCU has been investigating the circumstances surrounding the land deals, in which Bond is alleged to have been a key financial beneficiary.
Bond allegedly arranged several of the deals and benefitted from the sale of the lease rights.
At the time, he was also supposedly looking after the interest of NICIL, which was presiding over the leasing of the lands.
During investigations, Bond was arrested and placed on $200,000 bail after being detained for 72 hours. While in police custody, he was questioned about the award of state lands.
The transaction which saw the monies deposited into Bond’s account, pertains to a Caribbean joint-venture for a chemical storage facility between GLASS Holdings and Trinidad’s Lennox Petroleum.
Bond, it is alleged, was the recipient of some US$952,800 for the sale of lease rights for the Peters Hall lands. In the case of Arken Group Inc, located at 34 Third Street, Alberttown, it was leased 20.8 acres in four plots by NICIL– three at 5 acres and the other at 5.8 acres. The lands were not advertised and as a result there was no Board or Cabinet approval of the deal. The date of execution of the lease was stated as 9 May, 2018, and the company agreed to a 20-year lease.
The annual cost for the lease was US$16,224. For the 20-year period, it would mean that the company would have been required to pay US$324,480.
No restrictions were applied and the business sold its leasehold rights of 10 acres to GLASS Holdings Inc on October 10, 2019 for $200 million. GLASS Holdings paid the sum in two installments of US$195,000 and US$757,000 and according to the terms of their agreement with Arken, was given an irrevocable Power of Attorney. They were required to continue payments and meet the terms of the lease.
However, according to Managing Director of GLASS Holdings Inc, Glenn Low-A-Chee, when he went to pay his lease fee he was shocked to learn that the deal had come under scrutiny.
