As Sheriff Group is preparing for the opening of its US multi-million dollar hospital at Leonora on lands formerly owned by convicted fraudster Edul ‘Ed’Ahmad, preparatory works have already begun for a US$200 million facility at Houston.
In December of 2020, the Sheriff Medical Centre Inc. had announced that the hospital at Leonora would be built to a tune of US$5M.
There has been no other word on financing. How-ever, in August of this year United States Healthcare Software Company Adroit Infosystems announced that the Leonora Hospital would be opened in September and would be its newest client.
However, while the exterior of the building seems completed, works were still ongoing at the facility when the Stabroek News visited last week.
According to Adroit Infosystems, Sheriff Ahmad is the owner of the Sheriff General Hospital.
With a medical centre facility already located at Sheriff Street, Subryanville, the two new hospitals will bring the number of private medical care facilities the Ahmads control to three.
Since July, this newspaper has made several attempts to speak to the proprietors of the company, to no avail. Twice the name and number for the reporter was taken and on both occasions they were told that the owner, Shareef Ahmad, would make contact as he was not at the time at the Sheriff Street location but at Leonora. Then in August, a female representative called to say that “Mr. Shareef would not do the interview.” Days later, the Guyana Chronicle reported from what it said was a press statement issued by the Sheriff Hospital that a hospital would be built in Region 4.
Minister of Health Dr Frank Anthony, when contacted, informed that the hospital has been given a provisional licence by the Ministry of Health to build two facilities—one at Leonora and one at Houston. The provisional licensing is required to facilitate infrastructural works. When the buildings are completed, the department at the ministry responsible for licensing would do requisite checks to ensure that the facilities meet regulatory and other requirements before an operational licence would be given.
Anthony was also quick to point out that government was not giving any financial support for the building of any of the hospital facilities as it was “a totally private venture”.
Details of the hospital investments have not been made public but Adroit Infosystems posted a report from EINpresswire, which related plans expressed by Sheriff Ahmad.
“We are committed to providing the highest quality care in a state-of-the-art setting. No more will Guyanese have to leave Guyana to seek specialist treatment,” the report quoted Sheriff Ahmad, Owner of Sheriff General Hospital, as saying. “People from the United States of America and the Caribbean will be able to access quality health care at an affordable price.”
For its part, Adroit reported that its founder and CEO Manoj Verma said that it “is delighted to be a part of the newest hospital in Guyana.” “Our software services will support this overarching goal. With Adroit EHR solutions at their fingertips, providers, staff, and patients at Sheriff General Hospital can manage data like never before. Our team is excited, and client onboarding has already begun.”
Sheriff Investments Group
The Sheriff Medical Center on Sheriff Street shares property with Subs & Salads, The Italian Grill, Miami Pizzeria and most recently, Sheriff Security Services.
According to Sheriff Investments, whose owner is Ameir Ahmad, except for the medical centre, all the other businesses were founded by him.
“The 31-year-old mogul in the making, learned the tricks of the trade from his father, Mr. Shareef Ahmad, who has been a longstanding ace in the business sector for over 25 years. The eldest of four (4) siblings, Ameir found himself drawn to the business sector at an early age. Mirroring the example set by his father, who founded the family business with Sheriff Jewellery, a popular name in Guyanese households to this day. Ameir, eager to learn, accompanied his father at the base of Sheriff Jewellery, in Stabroek Market. He then branched off and started his own cellphone store, acquiring a total of five (5) cellphones to begin with, vending to close friends and family. He then expanded to computers. The Ahmad duo decided it was time to level up and pooled their resources to procure a piece of land on Sheriff street in order to house the new and improved Sheriff Jewellery and later, Electronics City. They have since built from the ground up, several well-known businesses, Subs & Salads, The Italian Grill, Miami Pizzeria and most recently, Sheriff Security Services,” Sheriff Investment’s website states.
It informs that Ameir graduated from New York University in 2011, majoring in American History and minoring in Business Management. “He was able to put his education to great use and managed to expand the Electronics City store from one (1) location to six (6) in just a four (4) year span.”
The 31-year-old lists his net worth as over US$250M, as of 2020. “Ameir Ahmad is no stranger to hard work and risk taking. At an early age he has accomplished a great deal, with so much more in store. As of October 2020, Ameir’s net worth stands at a whopping $257,910,000 USD inclusive of bonds, assets, and cash.”
On how Sheriff Security was formed, it said that “Ameir sought to recruit a security firm to provide protection for his business as well as his home after an attempted robbery. Faced with the unwavering inefficiency of most security companies, Ameir ventured to start his own. One that he vowed would be different. He started small, providing security to friends, which in turn recommended him to their friends and little by little, Sheriff grew. Never satisfied with mediocrity, Ameir went from business to business and offered them proposals, slowly acquiring a vast number of Chinese contracts across Guyana, since they too were experiencing robberies on a regular basis.”
Ameir also founded Sheriff Construction. “This company uses state of the art machinery coupled with the latest technology to construct and design projects just the way clients envision them. Specializing in multi-story commercial buildings, schools, medical centers, public and private roads, and driveways etc., Sheriff Construction leaves no stone unturned,” Sheriff Investments states.
It said that when Ameir realized “the scope of real estate and construction internationally”, he bought the Leonora Lands from his uncle. Ed Ahmad was not named as the uncle.
Ed Ahmad had bought the lands, saying his company- South American Woods Incorporated (SAW Inc.) would establish a wood processing facility in the community and create employment for hundreds of persons.
Shareef Ahmad was a director of SAW.
The wood processing facility never materialised as Ed Ahmad was arrested in New York on mortgage fraud charges in 2011.
Dubbed by the US government as the leader of an extensive mortgage fraud scheme, he was in 2017 sentenced to two years in jail by a New York Court for attempt and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
Because he was a naturalized US citizen, Ahmad served his time and returned to his home in New York.
Sources told the Stabroek News that he still operates investment businesses in that state.
On the fate of the Leonora lands he owned, SAW had in 2014 initiated court proceedings here to have the lands transferred to a company in which Ahmad and another New York-based Guyanese are shareholders.
Ameir Ahmad’s father, Shareef, and the name given by the medical centre’s representative as its owner had told the Stabroek News back in 2014 that an application was made for the wood processing plant and that the application was denied by the EPA, on the grounds that it would have a negative environmental impact due to chemical waste, dust and noise pollution.
Shareef Ahmad had said that he was upset that the requests for building approval in 2012 were formally rejected by the EPA and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council for the Leonora area in the beginning of 2013. He stated that as a result of this rejection “we were stuck with a piece of land in an industrial zone that we couldn’t use,” and the idea was to subsequently develop a housing scheme on the 17 acres of land purchased from GuySuCo’s former Plantation Groenveldt, West Coast Demerara for $80 million in February 2011.
In June of 2014, it was revealed that SAW had quietly approached then Chief Justice Ian Chang’s court and secured an order to alter the conditions attached to the sale of the land. On October 2, 2013, Chief Justice Chang delivered a ruling in chambers on the matter of transport, ordering that the Registrar of Deeds make the relevant amendments to transform the conditions attached to the transport.
It is not clear how the lands at Houston, located about a minute’s drive from the Mandela/South Ruimveldt roundabout, were acquired.
