Appeal will be filed in case on Jordan's misconduct

Magistrate Leron Daly ruled that former Finance Minister, Winston Jordan, had no case to answer. The ruling was in the case against Jordan regarding misconduct in public office.

However, People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Bharrat Jagdeo, during his news conference at Freedom House, Robb Street, on Thursday (May 18, 2023), made clear that the ruling will be appealed.

He said, “The Chief Justice ruled on this identical matter when Minister Ashni Singh was charged by APNU for the land at Movie Towne, where 10 acres were sold at about $20M per acre, which was higher that the $16M that the bids, and he was acting pursuant to a Cabinet decision…she concluded that Ashni Singh would have to face the charges because he was, indeed, a public officer.

“…now, in an identical case, where (Winston Jordan), sold land vastly undervalued…and we have this ruling…so our understanding of the law is that the lower courts have to abide by the precedent set by higher courts.”

Details Of The Case

The case to which the charge is related is the sale and vesting of the state’s largest wharf facilities located at Kingston, Georgetown. The charge stated that the property, Mudlots 1 & 2, F of Mudlot 3, A, B & D, situated at North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, was valued at billions, but was sold at an undervalued sum.

Jordan issued a vesting order, which passes Title to the purchaser, for prime waterfront properties in Kingston to BK Marine Inc. without full payment. The company is owned by Brian Tiwari. The property is reportedly worth a whopping $8B. The purchase price, however, was set at $400M. In a strange turn of events, Tiwari only paid $20M – not the full price for the land. The Transport was subsequently issued for this property. Notably, the agreement of sale stated that Title must only pass upon full payment of purchase price. The vesting order stated that the property is being sold free from encumbrance and liabilities and no further sum of money is owed by the purchaser.

This was among nine transfers of state lands were signed off by the AP-

NU+AFC Coalition’s Jordan and exposed via the March 28, 2020 edition of the Official Gazette.

Jordan was arrested by ranks of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) on December 2, 2021 for alleged misconduct in public office.

Investigation

In October 2021, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall, announced that an investigation into the dealings of the former APNU+AFC government is actively being pursued. During a press briefing at the Office of the President on October 14, 2021, Nandlall said, “There were a number of transactions that were done under the previous government that will be subjected to inves - tigations and charges may flow if those investigations yield those charges based on the advice, of course, of the Director of Public Prosecutions. That is an ongoing process…many people believe that we may not have been pursuing this with the desired speed. That is not so. There are so many other things that have happened since that have diverted the attention of the Police Force in other directors. But we remain committed to that promise to investigate these transactions.”

According to the Attorney General, Jordan has been implicated in a number of nefarious transactions.

“The former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, has been implicated in a number of nefarious and questionable transactions, which we intend to send to the Police Force and to other authorities for investigations.”

These include:

• Hiding receipt of the US$18 million signing paid by ExxonMobil for over a year;

• The alleged sale of a number of prime pieces of land, many “far below market value” and “without the requisite public procurement process”, after the December 2018 No-Confidence Motion, as well as after the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections; and

• The alleged sale of several vehicles from the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to close associates of the then administration with observing proper procedures.

Commenting on the in-