Georgetown: Former President Bharrat Jagdeo and former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon were Tuesday afternoon arrested in connection with defrauding the state of taxes. Investigators from the Special Organised Crimes Unit (SOCU) accompanied by ranks of the Guyana Police Force went to the Office of the Opposition Leader on Church Street in Queenstown, and escorted Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo to SOCU headquarters on Camp Road.
Earlier, Lisa Ramotar had been detained by SOCU in connection with the ongoing probe into the Pradoville 2 housing scheme. Ramotar, the daughter of former President Donald Ramotar, has been taken to the SOCU office. She was being represented by Attorney Manoj Narayan. Accompanying Jagdeo to SOCU headquarters was Attorney-at-Law Glenn Hanoman. Former Natural Resources Minister Robert Persaud also walked in to the SOCU headquarters having signaled that he was prepared to respond to their invitation for questioning. He was being represented by Attorney Mark Waldron.
Ramesh Dookhoo, another owner of property at the Sparendaam locale called Pradoville 2, walked in with his lawyer to SOCU headquarters. The action by SOCU followed the release of the audit on the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited—NICIL. The audit found many irregularities, not least among them certain transactions that gave rise to the development of the Sparendaam waterfront. It found that NICIL has spent more than $100 million to remove the transmitter from the property. The decision was initially reported as a plan to remove an obstacle from the flight path of aircraft using the Ogle International Airport. The probe into the acquisition of the waterfront property began almost two years ago when the government launched a series of audits into the operations of the previous PPP administration. Significant sums from the State were spent also on the construction of roads, drainage networks and other works at Pradoville Two. The developed house lots, complete with infrastructure, were then sold below market value to Jagdeo, several ministers and Government officials and friends.
Reports indicate that there is no evidence that the house lots sale was advertised or what procedures were used in the allocations of the parcels of the oceanfront properties. There are also no details of whether the recipients were owners of properties at the time. If they were, under regulations, they would have been barred from buying the lands under regulations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority. Remigrants paid ten times the price that former President Jagdeo paid for house lots. Remigrants paid $1,111 per square foot to Jagdeo’s $114 per square foot. Jagdeo himself, according to details of allocations, received two parcels equivalent to two acres. On it, he built an imposing mansion, complete with pool and overlooking the seawall and the Atlantic Ocean. He paid a total of $9.8M. He had owned a property along the Ogle Airport Road in the community that was known as ‘Pradoville One’. However, he sold that property to Trinidadian advertising executive, Ernie Ross. There is no confirmation whether the former President paid the Capital Gains tax on the profits he made on the sale of the mansion or whether the 10-year timeframe had passed in which he could have sold the property.
In effect, Jagdeo paid three times less than what ordinary citizens in the Diamond and Grove Housing Schemes, East Bank Demerara, would have been required to fork out. Jagdeo’s payment for the Pradoville Two parcels translated to $5M per acre which works out at $114 per square foot; the ordinary man pays $317 per square foot for his plot. The sale of the Pradoville Two house lots for such a low price was in stark contrast with what remigrants had to pay under the Government’s scheme for returning to Guyana. Remigrants paid more than ten times the price Jagdeo paid for the same size house lot. They paid $1,111 per square foot. Pradoville Two is located in an area known officially as Plantation Sparendaam and Goedverwagting Two. Other beneficiaries included Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, Former Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford; Compton Bourne, former Head of the Caribbean Development Bank and UG Chancellor; Ghansham Singh and Kamini Parag-Singh and Florrie Loretta Ramnauth also received house lots. Singh is said to be the son of former Labour Minister, Dr. Nanda Gopaul. They also paid just over $1.5M. Ali-Hack and her husband, Moeen ul Hack, a top figure in the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), paid $1,488,744 for a piece of land. The Certificates of Title were prepared in 2011. Dookhoo, a Banks DIH executive, was a former Chairman of Private Sector Commission as well as the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI). He reportedly paid $1,502,500 for his plot with his title prepared in 2010.
Also benefitting was Lisaveta Ramotar, daughter of former President Donald Ramotar. She paid $1,515,000.
Former Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee; former GWI boss, Shaik Baksh and former Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, also received lots, paying just over $1.5M each.
So too did former Army Chief, Rear Admiral Gary Best and sacked Chief Executive Officer of the embattled Guyana Sugar Corporation, Dr. Rajendra Singh.
Also named in the list were Andrew Bishop, a Presidential Advisor in the former administration and former Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission.
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