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Trevor Benn remains in lock-ups as land probe continues
Currently in the lock-ups, Former GL&SC Commissioner, Trevor Benn.
Kaieteur News – Still in police custody as a probe continues into the illegal leasing of State lands is Trevor Benn, former Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC), according to Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum.
Benn was arrested on Wednesday for the alleged illegal leasing of six acres of State lands located at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (ECD). The lands, according to allegation leveled against him, belonged to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) and not GL&SC. Despite this fact, it is alleged that Benn moved ahead to illegally lease the plot of land to a company called Janico Vide Engineering Limited for some $27M.
Kaieteur News understands that apart from this allegation, the ex-GL&SC Commissioner is being grilled for more wrongdoings pertaining to the leasing of State lands. A source close to the investigation said that more files were being prepared and will be handed to investigators.
Since Benn’s arrest, he has been back and forth between the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Eve Leary and the Brickdam Police lock-ups as investigators continue to question him.
The lease of the lands to the engineering company by GL&SC reportedly took place on May 8, 2017. Benn was Commissioner at the time and the $27M transaction was made pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the company and GL&SC signed. That MoU dictated that the engineering company would lease the land for 50 years and pay $200,000 per acre annually.
It is further believed that under Benn’s tenure as boss of GL&SC, other large plots of prime lands were transferred to the control of persons under “very strange and abnormal procedures”. This was what Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs had relayed to media back in November last year. Nandlall had spoken of MoUs being signed for large sums of cash to lease lands that had not yet been identified.
One person, the AG had revealed received some 200 acres of land at Ogle. By standard procedure, Nandlall had stated, State lands are either given by permission, by lease, or by title. This he had added would allow for interested parties to either pay a purchase price, a licensing fee or a lease fee to acquire the asset.
However, the AG had pointed out, in the case of the 200 acres land, which at the time could not be identified, an MoU was signed with GL&SC and a large sum of cash was paid. That MoU, he had said, seemed to entitle the person who signed it to get a lease for that plot of land at a future date despite the land itself not being identified.
Benn was appointed boss of GL&SC in 2016 by the David Granger administration, and was granted presidential powers related to the sanctioning of renting and granting of leases, licences, and permission of occupancy of all public lands.
When the Irfaan Ali administration took office in August 2020, he was stripped of those powers and was later sent packing in November.
Following the revocation of his presidential powers, Attorney General Anil Nandlall had stated that his government will review all the leases, licences and permissions to occupy Public Lands granted by GL&SC after the No Confidence Vote, December 2, 2018.
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