By Brushell Blackman
March 8,2017
As the Pradoville fraud investigations deepen, former president Bharrat Jagdeo and former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, were yesterday arrested by the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), after they failed to submit themselves for interviews.
SOCU also hauled in the General Manager of the Guyana Gold Board, Lisaveta Ramotar, daughter of former President Donald Ramotar; former Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud; former Chairman of the Private Sector Commission, Ramesh Dookoo; former deputy head of National Investment and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Marcia Nadir Sharma, and Dr Ghansham Singh; the son of former Minister of Labour, Dr. Nanda Gopaul, for questioning.
They were all being questioned into allegations of conspiracy to defraud the state of revenue.
Jagdeo was written to by SOCU to attend his interview over the weekend but did not report when instructed. He instead chose to host a press conference about the same investigations when he should have been at SOCU.Head of SOCU, Assistant Commissioner, Sydney James, in the company of other officers promptly descended on the Opposition Leader’s office, Church Street, and arrested him.
Speaking to the media after leaving SOCU, Jagdeo said that the investigations are a political witch hunt.The former president said that his party will not be cowered into not highlighting the wrongs of the present administration and that they will fight the charges vigorously.
Jagdeo stated that he was questioned about his Pradoville 2 home at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara, and matters pertaining to NICIL.
The former head of state insisted that he is immune from prosecution during his time as president, and warned that if any attempts are made at undoing that immunity, many issues will be called into question.
Frail Luncheon
A very frail Luncheon, who was arrested minutes before at the Opposition Leader’s office, during a press conference with Jagdeo, subsequently arrived at SOCU and was questioned for over one hour.
Former Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud at SOCU yesterday.
Luncheon told the media he was asked about matters pertaining to Pradoville Two, Guyana Power and Light (GPL), the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) and a number of other investigations. He said that he was released on his own recognizance and has been told to remain in contact with SOCU.
Former Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud, and Lisaveta Ramotar arrived at SOCU around midday yesterday, and left that building five hours later. The two were also questioned at length about their alleged purchases of the prime ocean-front lands at the controversial Pradoville 2 scheme.
Persaud’s lawyer, Mark Waldron, said that they will issue a statement in relation to the investigations but there isn’t much that can be said since the investigation is ongoing.
Ramotar, who was represented by Manoj Narayan, was seen moving between the upper and lower flat of the SOCU building.
At one point when she was downstairs one of the officers could be heard saying to her, ‘Someone is lying’. When she was finished at SOCU Ramotar did not speak to the large press contingent that was waiting outside.
When Dookoo arrived at SOCU headquarters, he told the waiting media that he was asked to present himself for questioning. When asked if he owned lands at the Pradoville 2 scheme, he explained that he was given a plot of land at the location.
After his interrogation, Dookoo changed his story from what he had earlier told the press. He said he bought a plot of land.
He said that he wished that he had never done so as it has caused him tremendous embarrassment. He also said he wished he could give it back.
This investigation was birthed after it was found that senior officials of the previous government of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had allegedly obtained prime lands at the Pradoville 2 scheme at less than market value.
It was soon after the David Granger administration took office in May 2015 that a forensic audit was ordered into the operations of NICIL which has been accused of questionable activities.
NICIL is the state-owned agency that is responsible for investments, among other things.
The Pradoville 2 transactions would have spanned a number of Government entities, including the Central Housing and Planning Authority, the National Communications Network (NCN) and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
A plan
Prior to stepping down in November 2011, at the end of his constitutional two terms in office, Jagdeo and his administration decided to build a community for himself, his ministers and friends, but stumbled on a big problem.
Sitting on the land was a huge transmitting tower belonging to the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN).
A decision was taken to move the tower to Dairy Road, La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara.NICIL reportedly paid over $100M to take down the tower and build the new transmitting facility and charge the expense to NCN.
Significant sums from the state were spent also on the construction of roads, drainage network and other works at Pradoville 2. The developed house lots, complete with infrastructure, were then sold below market value to Jagdeo, several ministers and Government officials and friends.
There is no evidence that the house lots sale was advertised or what procedures were used in the allocations of the parcels of the ocean front properties.
There are also no details of whether the recipients were owners of properties at the time. If they were, they would have been barred from buying the lands under regulations of the Central Housing and Planning Authority.There are several other investigations, spurred by other forensic audits, and conducted by SOCU, that are ongoing.
Some other former government officials are currently facing the courts.
According to details of the Pradoville 2 allocations, Jagdeo received two parcels equivalent to two acres.On it, he built an imposing mansion, complete with swimming pool and overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.He paid a total of $9.8M. He had already owned a property along the Ogle Airport Road in the community that was known as ‘Pradoville One’. However, he is claiming that 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 sale of the mansion or whether the 10-year timeframe had passed in which he could have sold the property.
Three Times less
In effect, Jagdeo and his Pradoville 2 colleagues 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 paid $114 per square foot for the Pradoville 2 parcels; the ordinary citizens paid $317 per square foot for their plots while remigrants paid more than ten times the price Jagdeo paid for the same size house lot. They paid $1,111 per square foot.
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; and Florrie Loretta Ramnauth also received houselots.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.
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, former Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission; Safraaz Khan and George Hallaq, said to be the country’s former Middle East envoy, and a company called Future Developers International Guyana Inc.
