On Wednesday, Guyana’s Lands and Surveys Commission (GL&SC) COMMISSIONER, Trevor Benn, who served under the former administration of A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU + AFC), was charged with misconduct in public office. .
The charge relates to the sale of two parcels of land – 4,725 and 4,805 – each a share of Plantation Ruimveldt, to Wilfred Brandford, a former member of the Board of Directors of the GL&SC, who was serving in the office at the time of the transaction.
The charge states that the parcels of land were sold to Brandford for $ 13.5 million, when the land was initially valued at a sum of over $ 60 million.
Benn appeared before Senior Magistrate Sherdel Isaac-Marcus at Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. He was not required to plead to the charge and was given $ 100,000 bail.
The accusation read against him that between December 1, 2018 and August 31, 2020, Benn at the GL&SC, the Commissioner of the GL&SC, allegedly committed misconduct by committing the sale of both parcels of land, and causing Brandford to pay . the sum of $ 13.5 million for the said lands.
He allegedly did so knowing, at the time, that he did not have the authority to sell the lands and knowing that the lands were earlier valued at $ 60.8 million dollars. As a result, the alleged willful misconduct constituted a breach of public trust, without any excuse or reasonable justification.
Benn is represented by attorney-in-law, Mark Waldron, and is expected to make his next court appearance, relating to this matter, on May 28, 2021.
It was previously reported that Brandford received the Certificate of Title No. 2020/11 for the said parcels of land, dated April 15, 2020, pursuant to a Sale and Purchase Agreement, dated March 23, 2020, executed with the Guyana Government, represented from the GL&SC through the then Commissioner, Benn.
The parcels cover 0.710 and 0.887 acres, respectively. Benn had obtained two valuations for the said parcels of land; the first valuation was $ 60.8 million, while the second was for $ 13.5 million, however, the latter chose as the jointly agreed purchase price.
Earlier this year, in February, the Attorney General and Minister for Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, SC, on behalf of the GL&SC and the Government of Guyana, wrote to Brandford asking him to surrender undervalued lands he had weeks after March 2, 2020 elections.
The Attorney General has since instituted legal proceedings to restore the main piece of property. In his application to the court, which lists Benn as a defendant, Nandlall argues negligence, misleading, fraud and conspiracy to injure the state by unlawful means by carrying out the transaction.
On March 12, Benn was released on $ 200,000 bail when he appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly at Georgetown Magistrates’ Court related to misconduct in a public office charge, instituted in connection with alleged illegal leasing of State lands.
That accusation alleges that between January 1, 2018, and March 31, 2020, even though he was a public official, Commissioner of GL&SC, he knowingly misbehaved by causing the $ 27 million to be paid from JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited for a six-acre lease of land at Plantation Ogle, East Coast Demerara.
He was also alleged to have done so knowing at the time that the commission did not have the authority to lease the land and thereby grant a temporary lease on March 27, 2020, to the said engineering firm without any description. This alleged deliberate misconduct constitutes a breach of public trust, without any excuse or reasonable justification.
The $ 27 million was reported to have been paid in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Benn on behalf of GL&SC and JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited on May 8, 2017, for the lease of the State’s seemingly nil lands.
As part of the agreement, JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited was required to pay GL&SC $ 27 million in two installments: one at the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, and the balance on or before November 4, 2017 or the date of issue ‘ r lease, whatever. was the earliest.
A temporary lease was granted to JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited, dated March 27, 2020, stating that permission had been granted to JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited for “industrial and commercial purposes.” The provisional lease further states that “final boundaries will be established once the commission has completed a cadastral review.”
The law firm representing JANICO Industrial Engineering Limited had written to the current GL&SC Commissioner (s) Enrique Monize, in December last year, stating that both installments had been paid in full, despite several months had passed, the State Land Lease was full. unpublished.
Monize, on January 28, 2021, wrote to the Attorney General seeking guidance on the matter. In that letter, he explained that there are no such lands under GL&SC control.