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City Council to publish list of beneficiaries of ‘Royston King approved’ leases
Town Clerk (Ag.), Sherry Jerrick.
Kaieteur News – Months after a decision was taken to cancel all leases approved by former Town Clerk, Royston King, the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has announced a move to publish and review the list of 55 lessees, who benefitted from the process.
The move to publish the list was taken into consideration after Deputy Mayor of the Georgetown M&CC, Alfred Mentore, raised concerns over the manner in which the leases were dealt with. Mentore had proposed to attendees of the Statutory Meeting held at City Hall on Monday that the Council should reach out to the affected persons with a view of evaluating their leases and bringing it into conformity with correct procedure.
While taking the suggestion into account, Town Clerk (Ag), Sherry Jerrick, noted King had leased to a number of private individuals and companies several river side properties and reserves without the knowledge or approval of the Council, which is in breach of Municipal and District Councils Act.
She stressed that, in the eyes of the law, those transactions would be unlawful and since the decision was already taken by the new Council to cancel the illegally approved leases, the onus is on the persons who got the leases to appeal for a review, where necessary.
“While I agree to some extent that the manner in which these persons were leased these properties may be no fault of theirs, it is for them to approach the Council to request a review, not the other way around,” Jerrick said.
The Town Clerk said too that a Committee had already examined the list.
“I understand that there are some persons who had already constructed buildings or paid monies to the Council’s coffers … so they should come to us first since it’s in their interest. We can advertise a list of the names but we will not be calling in persons,” she stressed.
The Town Clerk’s recommendations received support from several Councillors at the meeting, including City Mayor, Ubraj Narine, who had initially announced the move to cancel the leases approved by King.
Announcing the cancellation of the leases back in February, the Mayor noted that in one instance, King had been collecting a yearly rent from the tenants of a water front property, despite claims that the State holding company – National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) – owns the property. As a result, the former Town Clerk was eventually dismissed for dereliction of duty because of that COI.
Narine had emphasised that “careful examination of the transport and leases determined that it has no connection to Council. [King] took it upon himself and leased the properties.”
The Mayor noted that there are a number of leases that were authorised by King himself and not the Council.
“We must admit that these leases were never brought before the Council or any committee. It is therefore within the rights of the Council to have all the leases he made cancelled,” he told the council last February.
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