Rohee defends $1.5M Pradoville purchase

Aug 04, 2015 News

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– “You can’t catch me with anything. King Kong ain’t got s**t on my head.”

General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Clement Rohee yesterday sought to defend his part in the Pradoville Two scandal, which saw him purchasing a plot of prime seaside land for just $1.5M that was developed using state resources and then parceled off or given for practically next to nothing to him and other top PPP/C officials and friends, in controversial circumstances.
The land, which was made available to a list of individuals headed by former President Bharrat Jagdeo at five times less what the average Guyanese would have paid and ten times what it would cost a remigrant, is expected to be reviewed by A Partnership for Unity/Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)’s administration, as many aspects of the shady transaction are still not clear.
At the party’s weekly press conference, Rohee was asked where he was able to get the money from to build his property on a salary of $579,000 (the General Secretary brought his ministerial pay slip, which he brandished). Rohee was not worried, declaring “you can’t catch me with anything. King Kong ain’t got s**t on my head.”
He was also adamant that he had got the money to build his Pradoville 2 property through financing from the New Building Society and also alluded to savings.
He was asked whether he believed it was fair to be offered and actually purchase prime seaside property, which was in actuality valued at five times the amount the average Guyanese paid, in addition to the fact that his salary was more than four times what middle and low income Guyanese workers took home.
“I can’t explain that because I don’t have those details that you are referring to about what is available where and how much it is for. I never made that kind of investigation. If I am offered a piece of land for that amount of money, then I have to determine whether I can afford it and how am I going to pay for it,” Rohee stated.
Asked if he had thus gotten a good deal, Rohee stated that either way, it was just “an investment” on his part.
The distasteful details of how the exclusive Pradoville scheme at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara, was created under the direction of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, had outraged the nation.
State resources were used to develop the area, including drainage and other infrastructure, and the lots were then sold way below market prices and under questionable circumstances to a chosen few.
There was no immediate evidence that the parceled lands were opened up for other citizens to have a shot at acquiring.
According to details of the transactions seen by Kaieteur News, Jagdeo got himself the biggest plots in the Goedverwagting Two section. In fact, he paid $7.5M for one and $2.3M for another parcel.
Other persons on the list of persons who benefitted from house lots in the upscale Pradoville Two scheme are Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Ali-Hack, and former Head of the Private Sector Commission (PSC), Ramesh Dookhoo
Former Public Service Minister, Dr. Jennifer Westford; former Natural Resources Minister, Robert Persaud; Compton Bourne, former Head of the Caribbean Development Bank and UG Chancellor; Ghansham Singh and Kamini Parag-Singh and Florrie Loretta Ramnauth also received house lots. Singh is said to be the son of former Labour Minister, Dr. Nanda Gopaul. They also paid just over $1.5M.
Ali-Hack and her husband, Moeen ul Hack, a top figure in the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG), paid $1,488,744 for a piece of land. The Certificates of Title were prepared in 2011.
Dookhoo, a Banks DIH executive, was a former Chairman of PSC as well as the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI).
He reportedly paid $1,502,500 for his plot with his title prepared in 2010.
Also benefitting was Lisaveta Ramotar, daughter of former President Donald Ramotar. She paid $1,515,000.
Former Home Affairs Minister, Clement Rohee; former Minister of Education and GWI boss, Shaik Baksh and former Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand, also received lots, paying just over $1.5M each. So too did former Army Chief, Rear Admiral Gary Best and sacked Chief Executive Officer of the embattled Guyana Sugar Corporation, Dr. Rajendra Singh
In order to facilitate the construction of the scheme, the Jagdeo administration had ordered the removal of a transmitting tower belonging to the state-owned National Communications Network (NCN), an action that cost millions. It was reportedly relocated to La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara.
REPERCUSSIONS
Under the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) regulations, anyone who already owns a home is not allowed to purchase additional lots from Government lands.
It is unclear whether any Government or other officials who received lands in Pradoville Two, owned properties elsewhere.
But with a limited amount of land available on the East Coast and East Bank of Demerara for the ordinary house lot applicant, the Pradoville Two scheme has been galling to aspiring applicants. In addition, it is unclear how Rohee’s declaration that “call it a good deal or a bad deal; it was just an investment on my part” will be viewed by other applicants.

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