I was told on a visit to the court that the children of the guy who used to own the bus Salome has the same problem. His nephew took his house and it has been 15 years now yet the courts cannot find the time to try the case. Get it...fifteen years and this case is still pending!
They tried to do it with me as well. I won the case but still cannot get a final judgement on the damages because the judge cannot do her write up for the past 10 years. Guyana is a judicial hell hole
I know this man and with me he does not get much Karma points but I feel for his Kids. These people will get little help from the police or the courts. The former is corrupt and the latter is populated by lazy people. Lawyers do not turn up to the court even when the took a retainer and the get no sanction as they would here in the US. Magistrates love to "put off" cases. They are to ones that glue up the system and erode justice.
About 15 years ago, a flyer purported to come from the Rice producers association advised people to squat on land they want to plant rice on. It said before the case is settled the squatter would have had 10 years of free use of someones land. The PNC had announcement of this on their website for awhile. The RPA disavowed it of course but that such a flyer existed spoke to the opportunity for crooks to steal anther's property.
Note, the seat of democracy is the protection of property rights. The lack of such is by definition the core of corruption, But then again, the PPP squats on state lands like it is their grandfathers so the People are following the ways of a corrupt regime to the "T"!
Dementia victim fleeced of home, son says
By Leon Suseran
An 82-year-old man of Albion, Corentyne suffering from dementia was allegedly wheedled into transferring ownership of his multi-million-dollar house and land while having drinks with a few persons couple months ago.
A former mayor of New Amsterdam and popular engineer in Guyana decades ago, Mustapha Ally—a U.S. Citizen— returned to Guyana a few days ago from New York and found locks on the gates to his property.
Mr. Mustapha Ally
There are several buildings on the land with a large yard-space. After securing a High Court Injunction granted by Justice Rishi Persaud, with the help of his son, Arif Ally, to evict the illegal occupants, Ally and his son turned up at the house armed with police officers and a Court Marshall, to show the occupants; However, a fight broke out, the occupants allegedly manhandled Ally in the presence of the police and refused to give up occupancy of the house and land.
Ally and family also say that they are not getting the full support of the local police whom they accuse of siding with the perpetrators. The matter has escalated to such a point that the U.S. Embassy is keeping a close eye on the situation.
“We went with an injunction to evict them but they’ve got thugs there, so we went with a Marshall—Mr. [Ryan] Crawford and our own security force—ex- police officers and the warrant was served on Navinder Persaud by the Marshall and we got a police officer from the Albion Police Station.”
Arif Ally, on Saturday, stated that his father became an acquaintance to the two named individuals when they visited the home a few weeks ago to purchase a safe after their pawn shop on the Corentyne was burnt down. It is believed that the individuals are brothers. Arif stated that he met them three months ago after they visited the house to purchase the safe from Mr. Ally.
“They —Navinder Persaud and Veejay Cipriani came to my father to buy a safe three months ago,” Arif said.
Arif stated that the individuals have virtually taken over their home and have moved in. They have been occupying the property for several weeks now and claim to have all legal paperwork for ownership, even though Mr. Ally is still in possession of the Transport in his name.
Arif added that the two individuals claimed to have paid his father US$42,000 for the property “and today they said they paid US$85,000 and a month ago they claimed to have paid him US$150,000 in New York.” This, the individuals claimed to have paid Ally while socializing with him at the house a few weeks ago with drinks and food.
But Ally has severe dementia and cannot remember collecting any such amount of cash “and they knew that and they were bringing him alcohol and cigarettes and getting him drunk.” “He never had a Bill of Sale or nothing—no money was ever given to him,” claimed Arif.
The property which is under siege right now.
He also claimed that the individuals seized his father’s bank card and passport. “He could not leave [the country] when he wanted to. Eventually they returned the documents to him after what they did what they did—I don’t know what papers they cooked up—and that’s when we came back and evicted them.”
Ally said that he had been living at the house for over 40 years, even though he would go back and forth between USA and Guyana at times. He was instrumental in constructing the Canje River Bridge and the Albion Sports Complex decades ago.
There was a confrontation on Friday evening after the Allys along with the daughters of their maids, arrived at the house with the security forces and Marshall. The Allys locked the gates with their locks after which the individuals allegedly abducted Mr. Ally with the two girls and kept them in the house all night.
“But when the police came, they [the individuals] removed their locks to make it look as if it was only my lock on the gate.”
Arif stated that his father was in the home all night without food or water. His father and the girls were let out of the house and compound around 07:30 hrs Saturday, and “they locked the gates…he could not have gone back into the house.”
“The US Embassy called and wanted to know if he [Ally] can go freely in and out of his house—they said the most they can do was to send a local police from here…but these police know these people by first name! Everybody’s been paid off—I don’t know how this can happen in this country!” complained Arif. They’re bribed— they’re corrupt—they’re taking money to look the other way.”
Arif stated that the family cannot deal with this situation. They are also fearful for their lives. They are currently staying at a relative’s home a few blocks away from the house and plan to leave for the United States as soon as possible. The next court hearing is planned for Friday at the GT High Court.
“When someone has dementia, and you’re fed alcohol, it gets worse…you don’t remember stuff, you get forgetful.”
When asked what the family’s next move is, Arif stated that they will continue to fight to regain control of the house and compound. “What they did was fraud…the transport is still in his [his father’s] name.”
Additionally, Arif stated that his family being staunch Muslims has found that the individuals have desecrated the property, too, by taking swine into the compound.
When Kaieteur News turned up at the house on Saturday, a group of persons appeared at the gate and prevented the reporter from entering the compound. They stated that Mr. Ally no longer lives there and that he was overseas.
Lawyer for the Allys, Sanjeev Datadin, said that the courts are being disrespected because they are allowing the people to disregard a legal order of court.
