Elderly couple seeks justice…says bank sold home controversially

Jun 22, 2014 News

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An elderly couple from Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, is calling on the relevant authorities to

look into the controversial sale of their home. The couple Kalamazad, 62, and his wife Nazamonie Haniff, 65, alleges that their well furnished, two storey-family home was fraudulently sold by the now closed Guyana National Cooperative Bank (GNCB).
Haniff told Kaieteur News that she and her husband are now homeless after being violently forced out of their home more than a year ago by the man who purchased their house. As such, the couple has no place of abode and is constantly moving around to their children’s homes.
Haniff explained that in 1994, she and her husband took a loan from GNCB to purchase a fuel truck. As collateral, they put up their home. The loan which was for $2.4M was supposed to be paid back within six years at a rate of 17.5 percent.
The woman continued that loan payments commenced and payments were being made at the stipulated rate. However, there was a shortage of fuel so the truck was sold and a $2M payment was handed over to the bank in 1996. The couple said they then requested a statement of payments from the bank to facilitate remaining payments so that the transport could be returned.
The bank refused to give her a statement to account for monies paid, Haniff said. As Haniff spoke, she presented the publication with documents and receipts to show that the bank had her making small payments of $60,000 and $350,000 which they said was to facilitate the return of the transport.

The receipts appeared to have GNCB stamps.
However, when the financial statement was finally presented to the couple in 2001–four years later, Haniff said it omitted a part of the $2M payment among others. She said the bank further claimed that almost $2M was owed on the loan because they had only paid just $400,000. It was pointed out also that the bank was claiming the loan was taken at 35 percent instead of 17.5 percent.
Haniff said that this caused her to threaten legal action against the bank, but to her surprise a few days after, she was summoned to court for owing the bank. The woman said that following the court matter, it was ruled by then Chief Justice Carl Singh that the couple should pay what the bank claims, but on the condition that the mortgage deed is cancelled and the transport returned.
Haniff said that the transport was never handed over by the bank so no payments could be made. The woman said that she never intended to make any payments to the bank because she could have proven that she did not owe GNCB.
However, Haniff claimed, the bank’s failure to return the transport caused the couple to go back to court but the matter prolonged and she had to leave the country to work in Trinidad and Tobago.

While in Trinidad, the woman said, she learnt that her home had been sold by execution.
Haniff said she left her job and returned to Guyana and commenced investigations into the sale of her home. She said when she visited the court registry she was given a document which said that the CJ had ruled that the house be sold by execution; a completely different ruling than what was ordered. She said the execution ruling had a date 18 months after the CJ’s original ruling.
Haniff said that she also obtained a letter with GNCB’s letterhead and stamp which said that her house was sold at execution based on the court’s ruling. The letter said the property was advertised in the official gazette and a named person had purchased it.
Another document showed that while the home was supposed to be sold by execution on May 23, 2006, the named purchaser had put down a $200,000 payment on the property two days earlier. The couple then sought an injunction from the court preventing the purchaser from accepting the transport and the home.
This was granted, Haniff said, but was also discharged ex parte eight days later since the purchaser also approached the judge. The injunction was to be heard on May 30 but when the couple turned up on that date, they heard that the injunction was discharged because the CJ had already ruled on the matter.
More court battles followed. Haniff said that after the court prolonged the matter for months they were made to make payments to those the injunction was against.
Haniff said that she made several visits to prominent officials including the former and current Attorney General. She said some persons promised to help while others said nothing could be done. Haniff said she suffered constant harassment from the purchaser of her home since the family refused to give up. She said it was not until the man brought several men armed with crow bars, cutlasses and other weapons to harass the family and destroy the home that they finally decided to leave.
“We left with just the clothes on our backs because he threatened to kill us.” Haniff said she had even visited the police station but got no help.
The man threw all the family’s items out of the home and started breaking down the house. The couple’s house was recently sold by the previous purchaser and all the family’s furnishings which were stored under a shed were burnt. Earlier last week, what remained of the house was graded flat.
Mr Keith Burrowes who holds responsibility for the GNCB loans section, said that he had met with the woman. He also said that he was prepared to meet with her again. She has been so informed.

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