Govt. must explain $80M Ed Ahmad land deal - APNU

Govt. must explain $80M Ed Ahmad land deal – APNU

Apr 16, 2014 News

Government must explain the details surrounding a land deal with New-York based Guyanese, Edul Ahmad, who received a 17-acre plot of prime land at West Coast Demerara, but failed to build a wood processing plant as promised.

Ed Ahmad

Instead, Ahmad, said to be a close associate of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, converted it to house lots and is now set to make at least $600M from his $80M investment.
The Opposition is not taking the matter lightly, with the coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), demanding an entire review of the transaction.
According to APNU Member of Parliament, Joseph Harmon, whenever state resources are allocated or sold for specific purposes to help create jobs, then any changes will require a different consideration. This will include a full assessment of that change, with considerations of the market value of the land.
In the case of the land sold to Ahmad, Harmon stressed that it was almost 17 acres of prime property at Leonora.
“To convert this land from a wood processing plant project to create jobs to now selling house lots is concluding that the new owner is profiteering. We could have gotten more money if the true purpose was disclosed initially.”
The MP insisted that with Ahmad known as a “friend of the administration”, the transaction itself becomes even more questionable.
“I believe that to make changes would be breaching the conditions of the lease or the sale of the land. Clearly, this is highly unacceptable, and speaks of how this Government and previous ones go about handling the assets and business of the people.”
The land in question was sold about five years ago to Ahmad through a local company, South American Woods Incorporated, in which his name appears as one of the directors. It was the understanding that the low cost of $80M for the land was because of the promise it was to be used for the establishment of the wood processing plant.
The project, Leonora Mall and Hollywood Garden, is being managed by Leonora Projects which is owned by Shareef and Ed Ahmad. The transaction was handled by the controversial National Industrial and Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL), headed by Winston Brassington.
The land was once the managers’ compound of Leonora sugar estate which once fell under the control of the state-owned Guyana Sugar Corporation. Around 2009, NICIL reportedly sold it to Ahmad for $80M or about $4.7M per acre. According to the company’s website, Leonora Projects is planning to construct 87 homes on the site. A house lot is now being sold for at least $7M. This means that the $80 million plot of land is now worth more than $600M.
The company is also building homes for at least $30M each.
It is the plan to include a full gas and service station, facilities to house two banks and a huge shopping mall.
The Leonora projects are being run from Ahmad’s building materials depot at Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
NICIL itself has been embroiled in a number of questionable transactions, including its privatization of the Sanata Complex in Ruimveldt, which was sold cheaply to Queens Atlantic, headed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo’s best friend, Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop.
NICIL’s point man, Winston Brassington, is at the centre of a number of questionable deals including the Marriott Hotel and financial arrangements of the Berbice River Bridge.
Ahmad was charged by the US Federal authorities for his involvement in a massive real estate fraud scheme. In October 2012, during a plea deal in a New York court, he was found guilty of knowingly and intentionally conspiring to defraud several lending institutions over a period of 15 years.