Former Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC), Trevor Benn, was on Friday released on $100,000 bail after he was charged with a third offence of misconduct in public office in relation to the sale of State lands to Cevons Waste Management Inc. for $80M.
Benn, 53, of Century Palms Gardens, Durban Backlands, appeared before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and was not required to plea to the charge.
It is alleged that between October 1, 2018, and August 31, 2020, at GL&SC, Georgetown, Benn willfully misconducted himself by executing a sale of a parcel of land at Plantation Le Repentir and causing Cevons Waste Management Inc. to pay the sum of $80 million to the Commission for the said lands, knowing at the time he did not have the authority to sell the said lands, the said willful misconduct amounting to a breach of the public trust, without any excuse or reasonable justification.
Benn is being represented by attorneys-at-law, Mark Waldron and Keoma Griffith. The matter is adjourned to June 18, 2021.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Cevons Waste Management Inc. Morse Archer had told the News Room that his company followed all guidelines and legal procedures in the purchase of a plot of land that the government is now seeking to repossess.
He claimed the land was purchased from the GL&SC in 2018 for $100M of which $80M has already been paid. The CEO said as per the written agreement with GL&SC, he was told that the transport for the land will take three years to be transferred and once that is done, the remaining $20M would be paid.
In the interim, Archer explained, that he was granted a 50-year lease by the GL&SC which he is currently paying on simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Benn is also before the Court for his involvement in another alleged $87.8 illegal land deals at Ogle, East Coast Demerara and Middle Walk, Plantation Ruimveldt.
