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Royston King pockets $6.8M from sale of govt. reserve
One of the cheques written in Royston King’s name from Brian and Ingrid Chase Mining and Trucking.
Town Clerk, Royston King, has been implicated in the sale of city lands identified as government reserve and then diverting monies from the sale through his Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) instead of to the Mayor & City Council (M&CC) Treasury Department.
About two years before his appointment as Town Clerk, King while serving as the Public Relations Officer of M&CC, reportedly accepted over 15 payments in cheques and cash totalling $6.8M from Brian and Ingrid Chase Mining and Trucking company.
The property is approximately 23,600 square feet located opposite Lot 1576-1580 on Aubrey Barker Road, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown. The expected lease period is for 20 years.
Kaieteur News is in receipt of copies of the cheques and payment vouchers from the mining company which indicate that King used the NGO, Environmental Community Health Organisation (ECHO) to secure the payments.
Before his appointment as Town Clerk, King identified himself as the Executive Director of ECHO, writing letters to the media and leading protests calling for transparency and accountability in the extractive sector.
The owners of the mining company are contending that they knew and trusted King who identified himself as the head of ECHO. Further, the owners indicated that King identified himself as the owner of the land and they entered into an agreement to buy the strip of land for $7M.
The payments for the transactions reportedly started on April 15, 2013 with a cash payment of $200,000 which is said to be legal fees. The payments continued in May 2013 with a Scotiabank cheque from the mining company issued to ECHO in the amount of $300,000.
One of the cheques made out to ECHO, an NGO which Royston King identified himself as the Executive Director.
By the end of November 2013, there were seven subsequent payments by cheque made out directly to ECHO. Among them were a $700,000 transaction and two $500,000 payments.
According to records, the mining company had prepared a cheque dated December 5, 2013 in the name of ECHO. However, the NGO’s name was scratched from the cheque and replaced by Royston King. However, the payment voucher indicates that the cheque was paid to ‘Royston King for’ and bears King’s signature as uplifting the payment.
This is the first time in the transaction that King’s name appears among the cheques.
The company executives have stated that they were told to make the payment in ECHO’s name, but when King became Town Clerk they were told to make those payments directly to him.
According to company executives, they started work on the land, but were stopped by the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC). The agency identified as the owner of the property. Still in pursuit of the land, the company reportedly started the process all over again.
On February 21, 2017, the company paid a leasing fee of $1.8M by way of a cheque. This time the payment was made through the treasury department.
King is currently on administrative leave to facilitate a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the mismanagement of City Hall.
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