Ed Ahmad land deal… GuySuCo must
legally pursue “new arrangements” –
Dr. Luncheon
After conducting a probe into the breach of a land deal with Ed Ahmad, a Guyana-born New York-based businessman and close friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon has categorically stated that the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) will now have to take a legal course of action to ascertain who authorized the “new arrangements” that are being actively pursued by the developer.
Dr. Luncheon made this statement yesterday at a press conference which was held at the Office of the President.
Ed Ahmad
The Board Member of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) was at the time responding to a question by this publication as to what became of the investigation into the land deal, the terms of agreement which have now shifted.
Ahmad was sold an almost 17-acre portion of land belonging to GuySuCo, at Leonora, for $80M. The conditions of sale were that the company would have set up a factory to create jobs for persons in the neighbourhood. The agreement to this condition was the factor which governed the price at which it was sold. However, the businessman disregarded those initial agreements and the land has now been converted into a house lot project, Leonora Mall and Hollywood Garden, which is being managed by Leonora Projects. It is owned by Shareef and Ed Ahmad.
To date, there has been no official statement by the administration as to who authorized the new arrangements. What caused much of a stir is the fact that the controversial NICIL is involved in the suspicious land deal. NICIL, which is headed by Winston Brassington, reportedly piloted this deal with Ahmad. The $80 million plot of land is now worth more than $600M.
Both Government and NICIL have publicly stated that they were unaware of the new arrangements. An investigation into the breach of the land deal was reportedly conducted by NICIL.
“I saw a legal brief prepared by stakeholders who said that this matter needed to be pursued legally. GuySuCo will have to pursue it legally since we (NICIL) were only acting as an agent. I am a board member of NICIL and we provided expertise in the leasing arrangements, so this matter will not be unattended to or left swept under the mat,” Luncheon told media
Dr. Roger Luncheon
operatives.
Ed Ahmad was charged by the US Federal authorities for his involvement in a massive real estate fraud scheme. In October 2012, during a plea deal in a New York court, he was found guilty of knowingly and intentionally conspiring to defraud several lending institutions over a period of 15 years.