Jagdeo granted 20 acres to Irfann Ali weeks before leaving office

Jun 30, 2019 News

As President, Bharrat Jagdeo granted 20 acres of land to then Minister of Housing, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, in 2011 just weeks before the General and Regional Elections.

Former President, Bharrat Jagdeo

Kaieteur News is in possession of a document (File No.41123/688), which is a lease of state lands for Agricultural and Residential Purposes.
The lease, issued under Section 3(b) of the State Lands Act, Chapter 62:01 list two lots of land: 33 & 35, situated on the Western side of the Soesdyke Linden Highway, Left Bank Haimaruni River (also known as Long Creek).
The two plots are 9.733 acres and 10.605 acres respectively, as shown on GLSC Plan No. 50318, surveyed by the R. Looknauth. The date on the lease is September 2, 2011.
This image surfaced after Jagdeo made several claims against the current government; condemning allocations of tracts of land to persons he said are linked to President David Granger.
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has been, since last Thursday, attempting to solidify claims Jagdeo made of a massive land grab by the current A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government. GLSC has since informed reporters that it will ask the police to investigate the circumstances surrounding Jagdeo’s acquisition of the documents Benn said are stolen.

Former Housing Minister, Mohamed Irfaan Ali

On the matter of the land Jagdeo allocated, Kaieteur News contacted Ali, who is the PPP’s current presidential candidate, and enquired. Ali said that the lands are being used as a chicken farm, and that this information is public knowledge.
When Kaieteur News contacted Jagdeo via phone, in his refusal to answer questions, the Opposition Leader said that he wants to make clear his refusal to “deal” with Kaieteur News and the reporter in particular, since he believes that this publication’s reporting on his land-grabbing claims and the consequent responses, constituted a misrepresentation of the facts.
When asked which issues were misrepresented, the Opposition Leader brought up Serato Phillips, one of the persons he attempted to implicate in the land-grabbing claims.
Kaieteur News informed him that Commissioner at the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Trevor Benn, had not spoken liberally on quite a few of the names mentioned, due to the fact that it is necessary the confidentiality of the commission’s clients be respected.
During this publication’s attempts to further clarify the Opposition Leader’s accusation, he abruptly ended the call.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News