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Former Member

Jordan on $3M bail for allegedly selling State wharf below market value

Dec 29, 2021 News -- Source - Kaieteur News Online -- https://www.kaieteurnewsonline...-below-market-value/

Kaieteur News – Former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, was on Tuesday placed on $3M bail for allegedly selling a State wharf below its market value.

Jordan in the company of a battery of lawyers including the Leader of the Opposition, Joseph Harmon, appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan. The other lawyers who represented him are: Khemraj Ramjattan, Senior Counsel, Roysdale Forde and Darren Wade.

Former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan.

Jordan was slapped with a misconduct in public office charge which alleges that while being and performing duties of Minister of Finance and being the concerned Minister for the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), a company owned be the Government of Guyana, between February 26, 2020 and July 31, 2020 at Main Street, Georgetown, he willfully misconducted himself.

It further alleges that the former minister acted recklessly when he signed NICIL (Transfer of Property) Order, No. 50 of 2020, transferring to and vesting to BK Marine Inc. absolutely, all buildings, erections, stellings, platforms and further appurtenances that is to say, Mud lots 1 & 2, F of Mud lot 3, A, B & D, situated at North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, being over 2.553 acres, by paying $20,260,276, for a property valued over $5B and being sold at a price that was grossly undervalued to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public trust and without reasonable excuse or justification.

Jordan was not required to plead to the indictable charge after it was read to him. The charge was brought against him by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), an arm of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).
The Chief Magistrate placed the former Minister of $3M bail with the condition attached that he reports to SOCU headquarters every last Friday of every month until the hearing and determination of the matter. Jordan is expected to make his next court appearance on February 10, 2022.

One of the lawyers stated that the bail amount in which Jordan was granted was excessive and noted that an application was made for the bail to be reduced. However, that application was not granted and the bail remained at $3M.

On December 2, 2021, Jordan was arrested and later released on bail for a series of allegations relating to irregular transactions of public funds and state properties, estimated to value billions of Guyana dollars.

According to the police, the first transaction that he was interviewed about is in relation to the alleged sale and vesting of the state’s largest wharf facilities located at Kingston, Georgetown, valued approximately US$40,000,000 but was reportedly sold for US$500,000. It is alleged that the purchaser BK Marines Inc., only paid US$100,000, which is 10 percent of the purchase price, and Jordan issued a vesting order passing Title to the purchaser, without the payment of any further sum of monies.

It was further stated that the vesting order stated that the property is being sold free from encumbrance and liabilities and no further sum of money is owed by the purchaser. Also, the transport was subsequently reportedly issued for the property and the value stated on the transport was US$2,000,000. It was noted however, that the agreement of sale stated that title must only pass upon full payment of purchase price.

The police also reported that investigators have evidence to establish that a facility which is a mere fraction of the size of the state property that is under investigation and located seven miles upriver was sold by a private company for US$17 million.

However, Jordan’s lawyers are contending that the charge against their client is trumped up and political in nature. Yesterday while speaking to reporters Forde said, “Mr. Jordan did not take it upon himself to unilaterally act to sign any vesting order but that was done after a process a process that led to a deliberation and determination by cabinet. After that process Mr. Jordan was simply performing an administrative function by which he would have been singing a vesting order.

“If the cabinet had authorised the sale and the circumstances and conditions of the sale as a consequence of receiving a report and documentation and a memorandum from NICIL itself outlining those circumstances, so at no time whatsoever Mr. Winston Jordan would have been acting solo or would have embarked on a mission on his own.”

Former APNU/AFC Govt was warned in 2019 not to undersell waterfront land to BK

https://i0.wp.com/www.inewsguyana.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BK-marine.jpg?fit=696%2C522&ssl=1The BK Marine property in question at Kingston (Kaieteur News photo)

The former A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government was warned since 2019 in legal advise it procured from Attorney-at-Law Ronald Burch-Smith, that the sale of over 2.553 acres of prime waterfront property valued at over $5 Billion to BK International, for “overly generous” terms, would attract legal sanctions.

Prominent lawyer and former President of the Guyana Bar Association, Burch-Smith, was contracted by the former APNU/AFC Government to give his legal opinion on the prospecting sale of several buildings and prime lots on the Demerara riverfront, to BK International.

At the time, BK International was looking to exercise its option to purchase the land, which it had been leasing from the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited since December 2006. At the time of the least, there was an option to buy at $110 Million. He had stopped paying rent for the property for which he has offered to purchased in 2009.

This figure was arrived at because BK International at the time owed almost $100 Million in accrued rent (the company was required to pay $10 Million per year). BK International was therefore looking to wipe out its debts and acquire the transport for prime land in its entirety, in one transaction.

“It appears from a letter reviewed by me dated 31st March 2017, that BK International proposes to pay the original option price, 1 years annual rent of $10 Million and to receive transport. Similar terms have been rejected by NICIL in the past,” Burch-Smith documented in his advice.

It was documented that NICIL had refused to sell the land to BK International, on the grounds that the company had not held up its end of the lease agreement and was thus not entitled to purchase the land at the rates in the agreement.

BK International would eventually halt the payment of rents in 2011 and NICIL would take BK to court for the unpaid rent in 2013. As of 2019 the matter had still not been concluded in the commercial court.

Importantly, Burch-Smith interviewed staff at both the then Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD), who all expressed concern at the former APNU/AFC Government’s efforts to sell the land at below market prices.

According to Burch-Smith in his legal advice, the staff were “of the general view that the proposed terms of the sale would result in the transfer to property to private ownership at disproportionately low rates.”

“In the exercise of their joint or several discretions, public officers should be concerned about whether a decision to sell government land at overly generous prices can result in civil or criminal sanction to them personally. This is so particularly where the sale involves no obvious benefit to the public by facilitating important or valuable investment or as the result of a public tender. In the latter case, a public tender creates no obligation to sell and may not be an appropriate legal justification for entering generous commercial terms,” Burch-Smith further advised.

Burch-Smith made it clear in his legal advice that the sale of the property to BK International would be difficult to justify and expose all those involved to criminal charges, save for the President who enjoys immunity for cabinet decisions. He had also urged that the matter not be treated as a solely commercial issue and that care be given to the possible criminal implications of the sale.

The former APNU/AFC government would do the opposite of acting in a careful manner, going on to vest the land to BK International after the payment of just $20 Million and spark criminal charges against former Finance Minister Winston Jordan who appeared in court on Tuesday and was released on $3 Million bail.

Jordan appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan where he was not required to plead. The former Finance Minister is expected to return to court on February 14, 2022.

It is alleged that Jordan, being and performing duties of Minister of Finance and being the concerned Minister for the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), a company owned by the Government of Guyana, between Wednesday, February 26, 2020, and Friday, July 31, 2020, willfully misconducted himself by acting recklessly when he signed NICIL (Transfer of Property) Order No. 50 of 2020, which was published in the Official Gazette, transferring to and vesting to BK Marine Inc. absolutely, all buildings, erections, stellings, platforms, and further appurtenances, that is to say, Mudlots 1 & 2, F of Mudlot 3, A, B & D, situated at North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, being over 2.553 acres, by paying $20,260,276 for the property valued over $5 billion and being sold at a price that was grossly undervalued to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust and without reasonable excuse or justification.

FM

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