Second suspect held in $80M house lot scam

Sep 04, 2012 News

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–    victim secretly recorded gang

Police have detained a second alleged member of the gang involved in a massive house lot scam.
Investigators are also examining a secretly recorded conversation that a victim made of the alleged mastermind and his accomplices.
Kaieteur News understands that some victims have identified the 25-year-old man, who was arrested yesterday, as the person who introduced them to the alleged ringleader. It is alleged that he also accompanied them when they met with a woman who posed as a Housing Ministry employee.

A source said that at least 16 people alleged that the suspect introduced them to the ringleader as someone who could help them to acquire house lots.
Five people who handed over money to the fraudsters gave statements to investigators at the Brickdam Police Station yesterday after Kaieteur News broke the story about the scam.
One of the victims reportedly gave police a cell phone recording of the detained man and the alleged ringleader outlining the house lot deal.
More victims are expected to give similar statements today.
Meanwhile, the female gang member who was arrested on Sunday at a popular highway resort remains in custody.
Investigators say that it was this woman who would pose as a Housing Ministry employee and present gullible clients with bogus documents. She is likely to be placed on an identification parade today.
But police and Housing Ministry officials were yesterday still unable to locate the ringleader, who fled from a Grove, East Bank Demerara house last Friday night. Housing Ministry officials subsequently placed a sign outside the building indicating that it was the Ministry’s property.
The property owner informed Kaieteur News yesterday that the suspect rented the house some four months ago. The tenant, who gave his name as Prem Persaud, signed a contract with the home owner which stipulated that “no illicit or illegal” business would be conducted at the premises.
According to the property owner, ‘Prem Persaud’ called him from a blocked number on Saturday and stated that the Housing Ministry had placed a sign on his property. The home owner also said that ‘Prem Persaud’ denied the allegations that were being leveled against him and claimed that he was calling from Trinidad.
Yesterday, the property owner visited his residence and placed padlocks on the doors.
Sources close to the investigation revealed that the alleged mastermind, who also goes by the aliases ‘Prem Rampersaud’ and ‘Jeff’, had three separate gangs – on the East Coast of Demerara, East Bank of Demerara and the lower West Coast of Demerara.
Their main targets were people seeking house lots on the East Bank of Demerara.
The sums handed over for the documents varied from $250,000 ‘down-payments’ to $500,000 and $1M.
Kaieteur News was told that even prominent individuals, including one in real estate, were fleeced. A Guyana Fire Service employee also fell victim.
According to information, the gang would lure their potential victims by pretending to have a ‘contact’ in the Housing Ministry.
The potential home-owner would then hand over an initial down-payment to have the Housing Ministry documents processed.  The ringleader would then take the ‘client’ to a Justice of the Peace to get a statement of income.
The client would then be taken to a woman in the gang who posed as a Housing Ministry employee. This meeting would take place at a Camp Street location. After the ‘client’ had handed over the rest of the cash, the ‘Housing Ministry employee’ would give the ‘client’ bogus documents indicating that he or she was now in possession of a house lot. In other cases, some were given letters indicating that they were now approved to participate in the Housing Ministry’s ‘One Stop Shop’ programme, where house lots are given out to persons at locations such as the National Stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Some of the ‘Housing Ministry documents’, which were shown to Kaieteur News, had what appeared to be the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) logo and had an illegible signature from an individual who appeared to have signed for the Chief Executive Officer of the CHPA.
However, the letters also contained glaring errors that should have aroused some suspicion.
The Ministry of Housing and Water yesterday issued a statement advising the public to beware of similar scams.
“The Ministry of Housing and Water wishes to advise the general public that there are several scams which have been discovered by the Ministry, all of which are currently engaging the attention of the Courts. The most recent scam is currently engaging the attention of the Police.
“The Ministry wishes to categorically state that those members of the public who usually find themselves caught up in scams of this nature, are equally culpable, since they are willing to participate in activities which they must know could not be authentic, by the very nature of the modus operandi that is used by the fraudsters,” the release added.
The statement made reference to several other press releases which the Ministry has issued warning persons to desist from entering into “transactions” which do not emanate from its offices.
“Members of the public are again reminded that the Central Housing and Planning Authority is the only authorized agency for the allocation and receipt of payments in respect of house lots purchased from the Authority, for which official receipts are issued; no one is authorized to collect money for house lots on behalf of the Central Housing and Planning Authority. All transactions related to house lots are conducted at the Central Housing and Planning Authority’s offices. No official business with the Authority is conducted in the field or at private premises. Transfer of any lot purchased from the Central Housing and Planning Authority must be approved, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement of Sale. Unauthorized/illegal transactions will not be honoured by the CH&PA. “

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