Local company withdraws court action over lands to develop houses for oil sector

Feb 22, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

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Kaieteur News – Mohamed’s Sons and Daughters Trading, Mining, Logging and Construction Inc., a local company, on Tuesday withdrew its court case against the Beterverwagting /Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) over the sale of private lands to build houses for the oil sector.

According to court documents seen by this newspaper Jimmaul Bagot, Chairman of the Beterverwagting /Triumph NDC was approached by Keith Chapman, a Sworn Land Surveyor sometime in March 2021. Chapman told Bagot that he was retained by John Fernandes Ltd (“JFL”) and that the company had an interest in acquiring Sections ‘F’ and ‘G’ part of Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD) lands which together total 200 hundred acres.

The Land Surveyor also said that the company wanted the land for a massive development project related to the oil and gas sector. The said project will also provide housing for expatriates.

The NDC suggested that the proposed megaproject would require financial inputs amounting to at least GY$2 billion to develop the housing project but the initial buyers would purchase the said parcels for $20 million.

John Fernandes Limited subsequently handed over the deal to Mohamed’s Sons and Daughters Trading, Mining, Logging and Construction Inc. and the company subsequently took the NDC to court following an investigation by the Deeds Registry that unearthed several transports issued over the years. This made it impossible for the NDC to sell land that it did not own.

The lands reportedly belonged to veteran journalist, Adam Harris, Perrian Jonas, Elton Mc Rae, Mustakeen Khan, Patrick Gittens, Winslow Padmore, Clyde Westmoreland, Ishan Arjun and Juan Rowe all of whom had applied through their attorney, Eusi Anderson to join the court action challenging the sale of the land.

However, when the matter was called before Justice Gino Persaud at the High Court on Tuesday, Mohamed Sons and Daughters Trading, Mining, Logging and Construction Inc. through its attorney Nigel Hughes withdrew its application.

In its defence, the NDC represented by Attorney-at-Law, Kashir Khan, told the court that it sought to discontinue the transaction by refunding the cheque to the principal buyer which had initially refused to collect it.   Taking the circumstances into consideration, the company withdrew the application and the court ordered it to pay the NDC cost of $250,000 within the next six weeks.

Kaieteur News had previously reported that the Beterverwagting/Triumph NDC had shared that it had received a proposal from JFL in 2021 for a plot of land at the backlands of the Beterverwagting community.

Following concerns raised that the NDC did not own the lands and that several persons from the community owned it, JFL had publicly stated that it is no longer interested in purchasing the land from the NDC.

However, the BV/Triumph NDC at a press conference had later informed the media that they had received a document from Mohamed and Sons and Daughters Trading, Mining, Logging and Construction Inc. indicating that JFL had handed its interest and rights to them in relation to the land located at Section ‘G’.

Back then, NDC Chairman, Jimmaul Bagot noted though JFL had publicly stated that it is not interested in the land, he said that it is of the view of the Council that JFL is using Mohamed and Sons and Daughters as a shell company to deceive them.

John Fernandes in response said it had engaged the local NDC and entered into an agreement to purchase the land. Sometime after this agreement was signed and a deposit by JFL made to the NDC, it was disclosed by “an individual unknown to the company, stated via social media that the land earmarked for purchase was in fact ancestral lands meant to be owned by their descendants and objected to it being sold to a corporation.”

This was followed by claims that there were persons holding transport for some parts of the land. While no evidence was produced to legitimize these claims, JFL decided not to proceed with the purchase, a position which remains the same to date.

John Fernandes Limited explained that Mohamed and Sons and Daughters Trading, Mining, Logging and Construction had agreed to refund them the deposit if the rights to the agreement were transferred to them. This was purportedly done and JFL therefore had no interest in the dispute over the lands. The company argued that it was Mohamed’s that must therefore settle the matter with the NDC.

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• Beterverwagting /Triumph Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Jimmaul Bagot, Logging and Construction Inc., Mining, Mohamed's Sons and Daughters Trading

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