The Government, through the Attorney General’s Chambers, has approached the High Court with hopes to recover several acres of lands at Plantation Ruimveldt, Greater Georgetown from a City businessman.
The Government’s contention is that the owner of Car Care Enterprise, Wilfred Branford acquired the land below market value, and at the time of the transaction, Mr. Branford was a Director of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission’s Board and it was the agency that was responsible for issuing the lands to Mr. Brandford.
Attorney General, Anil Nandlall is arguing that the State is the lawful owner of the property.
The parcels of land comprising 0.710 and 0.887 acres respectively allegedly sold to Brandford for $13.5 Million.
But, Mr. Nandlall submitted to the Court that a review of the transaction and similar transactions showed that similar parcels of land in the same vicinity were sold by the Government for as much as $150 million.
Further, it is the contention of Mr. Nandlall that the transaction is illegal, unlawful and amounts to fraud. As a result, he has asked the court to issue several orders and is claiming damages in excess of $500 million from Former Lands Commissioner, Trevor Benn and Chief Valuation Officer.
Nandlall further submitted that former Commissioner Benn abandoned internal processes with respect to the sale of State lands since there was no competitive bidding and that the process was sanctioned by the Commissioner.
The Attorney General is also asking the Court for an order compelling Bradford to give up possession of lands.
Nandlall had initially written to the businessman issuing him with an ultimatum to give up the land or face Court action. The businessman did not give up the land.
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