The Beterverwagting/ Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) yesterday said that it is fighting an attempt to “bully” it into giving over 143 acres of land under an aborted deal with John Fernandes Limited (JFL).
Emphasising that the council will not be bullied, BV/Triumph NDC Chair-man Jimmaul Bagot told a press conference on Friday that the local authority simply cannot sell what it doesn’t own, much less to a company it never had an agreement with.
He was making reference to a company listed as Mohamed’s Sons and Daughters Trading, Mining, Logging and Construction Inc, which has taken the NDC to court for it to be ordered to release to it some 143 acres located at BV, once it would have paid the balance of the $35 million purchase price.
“We’ve made it clear to them in several letters that we cannot sell what we don’t own. Hence, we had to rescind the agreement. However, they’re still pursuing it. I also want to make it clear that the NDC has already refunded John Fernandes the sum of $20 million..,” Bagot said.
The NDC received notice of the court action initiated by Mohamed’s Sons and Daughters Trading last week.
In a fixed date application (FDA, the company is seeking among other orders, that the NDC forthwith transfer the property to it once it would have paid outstanding balanced on the purchase price.
It also wants the NDC to forthwith complete all conveyancing of property.
The court is then seeking to have the court order the Registrar of Deeds to convey the property in question to it, upon the NDC’s failure within a month of any order of the court and subject to the deductions and or payment of all outstanding statutory liabilities and taxes.
Further, the company wants to be permitted to pay all the outstanding statutory and tax liabilities arising as a result of the conveyance of the property as a precondition of the conveyance and to deduct the value thereof from the balance of the purchase price.
The company is also seeking court costs and any further order the court deems just to grant.
Mohamed’s Sons and Daughters said that on November 30th of last year, the NDC entered into an agreement with JFL to purchase the property, but that on May 24th of this year, JFL assigned all its rights, title, interests, and benefits to it under an Agreement of Sale and Purchase via Deed of Assignment No. 1042/ 2022.
The company said that on July 21st of this year, its attorneys wrote the NDC informing them of the assignment of the rights and purchase to it, thereby requesting the NDC to take the necessary actions to ensure the conveyance of the Property to the Applicant within 14 days of receipt thereof pursuant to the terms of the assignment.
The company said that the NDC failed to comply with the request and despite issuing a pre-action demand, the NDC has refused to convey the property to it.
“The Respondent is obligated to convey the property,” the Applicant argues through its attorney, Nigel Hughes, of the law firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby.
No interests
On Friday, Bagot pointed fingers at JFL, although he noted that the company had publicly stated that it was no longer interested in the controversial land.
“John Fernandes would have published a notice in the Stabroek newspaper where they would have indicated that they have no interests—that they’re distancing themselves from any agent or anyone whatsoever who are claiming to have some vested interest in the lands located in Section G, BV,” he said before noting that to its surprise, it received the notice of the court action filed on behalf of Mohamed Sons and Daughters, although it thought the matter had been put to rest.
Last December, this newspaper reported on the controversial agreement between JFL and the NDC. Details of the $35 million deal had only come to light when the agreement document was leaked, according to Councilor Elton McRae, one of the nearly 100 Beterverwagting residents who own part of the lands that would have been sold.
According to the terms of agreement, JFL was supposed to pay the NDC $20 million on signing the agreement and the remainder when the transport was passed.
McRae had noted that if the document wasn’t leaked, nearly 100 persons would have found themselves without their property whenever in the future they were ready to develop it, and he blamed the NDC.
John Fernandes had said that when it learned of the objections, it immediately made the decision to pull out of the deal because it did not want to be a part a process where persons felt they were being shortchanged.
“When people objected and started saying we should not be buying the land and it belonged to other people, we said if there are people who made claims and there might be legitimacy to the claims, we don’t want to go against that. So it was safer for us to say, let us take a step back and we can always look elsewhere because it wasn’t an immediate need for us. We don’t absolutely need it,” John Fernandes Limited’s Chief Executive Officer Phillip Fernandes had told this newspaper.
“Guyanese have gotten a raw deal for years and the last thing we wanted was to be part of something where people felt they were getting a raw deal again and we walked,” he added.
However, controversy over the deal continued when the NDC received a lawyer’s letter from Mohamed Sons and Daughters Trading, directing it to make preparations for the passing of the transport, a development which set off alarm bells among residents, who feared efforts were still being made to take their property.
“The matter at caption refers. I am instructed that my client purchased [from] your NDC on the 30th day of November, 2021, immovable property situate at Section ‘G’ Planta-tion Beterverwagting in the Triumph/Beterverwagting NDC Village District, East Coast Demerara, which lot consists of 143.10 acres. This missive serves to inform you that my client is ready, willing and able to complete the conveyance. In the circumstances, I shall be grateful if the necessary acts can be taken to ensure the filing, advertising and passing of transport in favour of my client,” stated the March 16, 2022 letter, which was sent by attorney Shaunella Glen-George to the BV/Triumph Overseer Michelle Otto.
The attorney’s client was not named in the letter, titled ‘Re: Agreement for sale and purchase 30th November, 2021,’ and seen by this newspaper.
Mohamed’s Son and Daughter lists its Managing Director as Mohan Mohamed Johnson and its address as Lot 61 Fourth Street, Cummings Lodge, and Greater Georgetown. It also lists a mobile number but repeated calls to that number have gone to voicemail.
Bagot said that the history of the issue “was well ventilated in the news” and they were moving towards closure only to discover that Mohamed Sons and Daughters wants to go through with the sale of the land.
He said that what is imperative to note is that in the Deed of Assignment that was granted to Mohamed Sons and Daughters by JFL, “the considerations for the portion of land is zero.”
“So there is no consideration, there is no value attached to it. So it is the view of the council that John Fernandes is using Mohamed Sons and daughters as a shell company to deceive us all. Because on one hand, they are saying they have no interest in these lands, and on the other side, they have a company who is claiming to represent them, who’s claiming to have a legal document signed by senior persons within John Fernandes and registered at the court who are pursuing these lands,” Bagot added.
He also pointed out that while JFL distances itself from Mohamed’s Son and Daughter, all of the correspondence the Council sends to JFL is responded to by Mohamed Sons and Daughters.
“All of our correspondents that we would have sent to JFL, they have not responded to any of them whatsoever. When we send correspondence addressed to John Fernandes, we receive responses coming from Mohamed Sons and Daughters… They were playing with persons; the persons who have vested interest in the land in Section G’s live and we will… not be bullied. We will not take this easy we will hold them accountable. We will hold them accountable,” he added.
