An attempt by a company to enforce a controversial land sale deal with the BV/Triumph NDC appears to finally be at an end.
In granting the request of Mohamed Sons and Daughters Trading to have the case against the Beterverwagting/Triumph (BV/Triumph) Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) in the land dispute withdrawn, Justice Gino Persaud yesterday not only upbraided the applicant, but also the NDC, as he stated in his perusal of the case that he found that “there was no innocent party…” and “everyone’s hands are dirty.”
“…This case reeks of all kinds of offensive odours from the beginning involving John Fernandes Limited, the applicant Mohamed Sons and Daughters and everyone is complicit in this,” Justice Persaud said.
Yesterday’s withdrawal of the case ended a years’ old controversy that first saw the NDC selling a piece of land it did not own to John Fernandes Limited before it backtracked on the decision and attempted to return the money to the company. This move saw their decision being challenged by Mohamed Sons and Daughters who claimed that JFL had signed over its interest in the matter to them.
The judge subsequently awarded costs against the applicants (Mohamed Sons and Daughters) to the tune of $250,000. The payments are to be made within six weeks. However, the attorney representing the applicant, Nigel Hughes, objected to the sum on the grounds that the matter was being withdrawn as result of larger issues and that it was not because of the actions of the applicant that the matter was before the court. As such, he requested that the court revise the sum, but his request was firmly denied.
“Honestly, this is what we have to deal with when we have 10 judges in the system and hundreds and hundreds of matters to deal with. That why I am awarding $250,000 to costs. It is an abuse of the process of the courts in filing this bogus application,” the judge remarked in response to Hughes’ application for a lowering of the sum.
Justice Persaud while addressing the parties, expressed the hope that matters such as this do not engage the courts in the future. He lambasted the parties for wasting the judiciary’s time as the matter is marred with “intrigues and offensive odours.” Referring to the filed case as “absolute rubbish,” he stated that there was no way the court could have granted the orders the applicant was seeking considering what was raised in the application of defence.
“…And the applicant cannot come and say his hands are clean in this process. Everyone’s hands are dirty in this process and I wanted to say that… and you come to the High Court and want the judicial [ruling] on this kind of insane transaction. Look at this agreement of sale! Look at this agreement of sale! It is not worth the paper that it is written on…,” a visibly irritated Justice Persaud chided as he addressed the parties involved.
The judge further stated that in the evidential documentation submitted to the court, there is no reference to suggest how the vendor, which is the NDC, is the owner of the land. He also submitted that the case is disgraceful when one considers the conflicting evidence that $20 million was paid for the lands. The judge noted that through the Deed of Assignment, JFL had washed their hands of the matter by purporting to execute “this bogus deed of assignment, saying no consideration was passed when there is evidence on the record the applicant, Mohamed Sons and Daughters, gave them $20 million.”
Mohamed Sons and Daughters Trading had taken the NDC to court for it to be ordered to release to it, the 143 acres once it would have paid the balance of the $35 million purchase price as had originally been agreed upon by the NDC and JFL. After facing a backlash for purchasing the lands which were subject to ancestral claims and ownership by transport, JFL backed out of the agreement. It was later revealed that JFL had transferred its interest in the arrangement to the mystery company, Mohamed Sons and Daughters Trading.
Eusi Anderson, attorney for the respondents who are residents of the BV/ Triumph NDC, was also not spared a tongue lashing from the Judge.
Justice Persaud said that he has no idea what was filed in submission to the court. “The only grounds you have on which you can be joined to these proceedings is that your clients have transport for the portions of the property that were purportedly sold,” the attorney was told
“Other than that all the rubbish about the Attorney General and that the State of Guyana failed to implement and upkeep equal fundamental rights and adequate safeguards to prevent fraudulent alienation of African ancestral lands by way of fraud… fraudulent illegal illegitimate alienation by public authorities… breach of duty to protect African ancestral lands. What rubbish is this?” the judge asked.
Further, he pointed out that there is no cause of action but rather a private law action and Anderson’s reference to ancestral lands does not have any bearing on the case.
“Do you consult Atkin’s Court Forms… or do you just draft these fantastic sentences that float across your head when you lie down to sleep at nights?” the judge acidly questioned as he registered his displeasure at the time spent reading the submission.
Expressing his annoyance at the submissions made in the court case, Justice Persaud informed Anderson that future submissions should be sound in law and not be “a figment of imagination.”
On December 25th 2021, Stabroek News reported exclusively on the controversial agreement between JFL and the BV/Triumph NDC. Details of the $35 million deal had only come to light when the agreement document was leaked, according to villager and NDC Councillor, Elton McRae. The terms of the agreement stated that JFL was to pay the NDC $20 million on the signing of the agreement and the remainder when the transport was passed. Observers had deemed the $35 million figure as paltry but more importantly, the deal related to some lands which the NDC had no jurisdiction over.
“Property situated at Section ‘G’ consisting of 143.10 acres… and being part of a tract of crown land comprising sections ‘F’ and ‘G’ Beterverwagting which contains 200 acres as shown on plans by Chalmers dated 5.1.65 and H.I Perkins dated 17.2.90 in the county of Demerara which commences at the Southern extremity of Section L and extends southwards to the East Coast Canal concession, with no buildings and/or erections thereon,” the description of the land on the agreement stated.
JFL had however disclosed in 2022 that it had accepted $20 million from the company in return for the transfer of its interest in the matter. This had become known when JFL was refunded the $20 million cheque that it had tendered as the down payment to the NDC.
The NDC had earlier 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 lands despite the disavowal by JFL.
McRae noted that if JFL was no longer interested in the land, they should not have gone to a third party, but rather, they should have simply asked the NDC for the $20 million refund. “Why [did they] have to go to a third party…?” he questioned.
“We have not given anyone permission to transfer our properties – to sell, lease, rent or occupy, and we will challenge the council’s right to attempt to [usurp] our lands,” McRae declared.
