Multiple agencies begin probe into source of Jagdeo’s wealth

 “Government is very much interested in determining the source of Jagdeo’s wealth among others whose salaries do not seem to match the fortunes they have acquired over the years…” Dr. Thomas

Guyana’s anti corruption commission otherwise known as the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) has no interest in waiting on the Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo to disclose to the nation, the source of his assets on his own terms. Multiple agencies have already begun to investigate the wealth of the former president and the disposal of assets during his 12 year reign. SARU’s Head, Dr. Clive Thomas, disclosed that the agencies, along with SARU, will also be investigating all those persons who had control over assets of the states be it former Ministers or Permanent Secretaries of the previous administration. Dr. Clive Thomas said that there remains “deep interest” in ascertaining the source of the former President’s assets. “Government is very much interested in determining the source of Jagdeo’s wealth among others whose salaries do not seem to match the fortunes they have acquired over the years so multiple agencies are looking at that. We cannot be told not to investigate anyone including Jagdeo,” said the SARU Head. “But I don’t want it to be misconstrued to mean that Jagdeo is our only target.  We don’t want to make it look like we are only going after him because there will be some other developments taking place. That’s why we have our experts in the country now because we are trying to find…those who were found to be engaged in stealing public assets.” The State Assets Recovery Unit has already undertaken several cases. Dr. Thomas said that two such cases include the ‘Pradoville scandal’ and the alleged misuse of state assets by former GuySuCo CEO, Dr. Rajendra Singh. The Ministry of Housing had called on the Recovery Unit to investigate the ‘Pradoville Two’ deal, where abuse of state resources by the previous administration allegedly occurred. The matter is also being examined under forensic audits being carried out at both the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) and the National Industrial Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL). Minister within the Ministry of Communities, Keith Scott, had disclosed that the area situated at Parcel 172 Plantation Sparendaam and Parcel 237 Plantation Goedverwagting, known by citizens as Pradoville 2, was “mutated” and sold, subject to a Cabinet decision.

Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo

SARU Head, Dr. Clive Thomas

The state-owned NICIL/Privatisation Unit was authorized to do all acts necessary to ensure the vesting of the new development project in the CH&PA, the body which is tasked with overseeing housing developments in Guyana. NICIL/Privatisation Unit was headed by Winston Brassington, an executive who oversaw a number of contentious multi-billion-dollar public infrastructure deals. According to Scott, the allocation of parcels of land to several former ministers, senior Government officials and friends close to the PPP administration, and the method to determine the prices paid, were not assessed by the CH&PA. He said that CH&PA seemed not to have been in the loop. The infrastructural works were contracted to Atlantic Construction by NICIL/Privatisation Unit. NICIL reportedly also spent tens of millions of dollars to build roads, drainage and culverts, and to lay pipelines and in some cases, underground power cables. The developed house lots, complete with infrastructure, were then sold 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 allocation of the parcels of the ocean-front properties. 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 reportedly sold that property to Trinidadian advertising executive, Ernie Ross.

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 would contrast starkly 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. Other beneficiaries included Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack; former Head of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ramesh Dookhoo; former Ministers Clement Rohee, Priya Manickchand, Robert Persaud and even former Cabinet Secretary, Dr. Roger Luncheon. The Asset Recovery Unit is also investigating some of the infractions committed by Dr. Rajendra Singh when he served as Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). Dr. Thomas had said that a request was made for more details for some of the transactions and decisions by Dr. Singh as they involved the misappropriation of State assets. The Assets Recovery Unit will be looking into the sale of 2.6792 acres of land at Plantation Good Hope, East Coast Demerara to one Kelvin Gobin.

This sale was authorized by Dr. Singh. Dr. Singh also entered into management agreements with Global Casetech and Global Cane Sugar services out of India for the management services on a number of estates at unreasonably high cost, and without approval of the Board of Directors. Documents also show that the former GuySuCo Chief Executive Officer persisted with a commercial bio fertilizer, despite advice to the contrary from the corporation’s research and technical personnel. Single sourced procurements were done for the supply of bio fertilizers from Kay Bovet Engineering Ltd. of India in the sum of US$76,680 in June 2014 and Global Cane Sugar Services Pvt. Ltd of India in the sum of US$68,580 in February 2015. Despite being cautioned numerous times regarding the adaptation of a practice that has not been used outside of India, the former CEO allegedly persisted with commercial application rather than a trial as advised.

Dr. Singh is also said to have made decisions that resulted in millions of dollars being lost by GuySuCo. The said documents reveal that Singh had responsibility for finance and marketing for the company and entered into a one year agreement with Tate and Lyle in 2013 when the company could have entered into one for three years while locking in at a higher sugar price for 2014 and 2015.

This was the first time in the history of the Long Term Agreement (LTA) with Tate and Lyle that a one-year agreement was entered into. The failure to enter into a three-year agreement resulted in a conservatively estimated loss of US$60M in revenue for the corporation for the years 2014 and 2015. During his time as CEO, he also committed 38,000 tonnes of sugar to Futures Market without locking in a price it was US$0.16 cents per pound. The current price is now US$0.11 cents per pound and this decline resulted in a loss of revenue in the sum of US$4.2M for GuySuCo.