Council had no knowledge of Town Clerk‘s lease of Sussex St. riverfront property - Chairman questions King’s authority

Council had no knowledge of Town Clerk‘s lease of Sussex St. riverfront property – Chairman questions King’s authority

Nov 03, 2018 News

Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, (CoI) retired Justice Cecil Kennard has questioned the authority of Town Clerk, Royston King to lease the disputed Sussex Street riverfront property without council’s approval.
During a line of questioning at the CoI, King admitted that the Council was not notified about the lease for the Sussex Street property which he granted to Quick Shipping Incorporated.
Information had previously surfaced that King had leased the riverfront property -reportedly not the property of the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) – to a shipping company.
King had been collecting a yearly rent of $625,000 from the tenants, despite claims that the State’s holding company– National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) owns the property.
The CoI is being presided over by retired Justice Cecil Kennard who asked specific questions about the leasing of the Lot 1 Mudflat, Lombard and Sussex Street, Georgetown property.
At the hearing yesterday, Chairman Kennard inquired from the Town Clerk whether he had told the council about the lease to the facility.
“Whether this lease was brought to the attention of the council, nobody seems to know, because in your affidavit you seem to have done it on your own,” Justice Kennard told King.
King admitted that the 40-year lease, entered into in 2016, was not brought to the attention of the Council.
“It wasn’t taken to a meeting, but the lease was signed and lodged at the Council‘s Registry and monies were paid to City Treasury for which there are receipts,” King said.
Questioned on what authority he rented the facility without council’s permission, King noted that he relied on sections of municipal law Chapter 28:01, which permit him to be the sole signatory on such matters.
“I am trying to get from you under what authority you are allowed to grant the lease. But that section of the law you have read doesn’t give you the authority to lease property without the Council,” Kennard emphasised. At this point King’s lawyer, Maxwell Edwards interjected. Edwards said that it is possible that the Town Clerk could have misinterpreted the law in relation to the issue.
“Judges misinterpret the law, much less the Town Clerk,” Edwards stated.
The attorney had earlier raised concerns over the two transports that were produced in relation to property; one by the State Holding company, National Industrial Commercial Investment Limited (NICIL) and another by the Council.
He claimed that fraud was perpetrated on the part of NICIL.
In-house Attorney and Company Secretary NICIL, Arianne Mc Lean, had however produced documents to show that the State-owned privatization unit has ownership of the disputed wharf facility located at Lot 1 Mudflat, Lombard Street.
Included among the documents which Mc Lean supplied is a supplemental deed of lease agreement dated January 2002, between Guyana National Engineering Corporation, (GNEC) and Guyana National Industrial Company, (GNIC).
She explained that GNEC had a transport for the plot of land since 1985. The property was nonetheless leased to GNIC for a period not exceeding 15 years.
Mc Lean told the commission that NICIL acquired the property in 2002 by virtue of a vesting order.
She explained that a vesting order is a legal method of transferring legal title of a property from one party to the next as part of an equitable remedy. She explained, too, that there is no transport in the name of NICIL, only details of the transfer which are in the vesting order.
According to Mc Lean, GNEC was dissolved in May 30, 2002 and transferred to and vested in NICIL. To this day, she said, NICIL is still the owner and has not leased the riverfront property to any other company.
The lawyer explained further that GNIC, the current leaseholder, has been in default – the company had continued to occupy the place but stopped paying rent since 2010.
NICIL is said to have raised an objection over the Town Clerk’s leasing of the Wharf front land.
NICIL noted that King had no authority to lease the land. The shipping company subsequently wrote NICIL requesting permission to rent the land, but King never revoked his lease to the company. As a result, NICIL filed a complaint with the Local Government Commission, (LGC) over the matter.
Earlier this month, proprietor of Quick Shipping Inc, Paul Sandy, admitted that the riverfront land he leased from City Council is being claimed by at least two other entities.

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Council had no knowledge of Town Clerk‘s lease of Sussex St. riverfront property – Chairman questions King’s authority

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Council had no knowledge of Town Clerk‘s lease of Sussex St. riverfront property – Chairman questions King’s authority

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