Nigel Hughes managed to secure a whopping 75 acres of land after the former APNU+AFC coalition lost a No-Confidence Motion and should have been a caretaker government. He also secured land just after the 2020 elections which the Coalition lost but stayed in power for five months after.
This was revealed by Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday at his weekly press conference. He shared copies of the legal documents with reporters subsequently.
Based on the documents provided, Mr. Hughes, the current leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), was first granted permission to lease 25 acres of State land at the left Bank of the Essequibo River, near the mouth of Groete Creek on October 24, 2019.
This was after the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) ruled that the APNU+AFC coalition was defeated in the December 2018 No-Confidence Motion and elections were to be held soon after.
Then on March 19, 2020, two weeks after the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, Mr. Hughes was granted a provisional lease for an additional 25 acres of land at the left Bank of the Essequibo River, near the mouth of Groete Creek. He got another provisional lease for an additional 25 acres of land in the same area.
“So the elections came and APNU lost the elections and on March 19, after the elections, Nigel Hughes got another 25 acres of land contiguous to [first 25 acres he received on October 24, 2019]
“And then again on March 19, he got another 25 acres of land,” Jagdeo revealed at the press conference.
These 50 acres of land, the documents show, were for agricultural purposes. The annual rent for the lands was G$800 per acre.
Jagdeo called Mr. Hughes “duplicitous” because the AFC leader recently urged the PPP/C government to cease land transactions since it is an election year.
“We are vested with full power until elections but Nigel wants us to pause all transactions because it is an election year,” Jagdeo said, pointing out how much land Mr. Hughes reportedly received under these three transactions alone.
But that’s not all. Jagdeo also addressed concerns raised by Mr. Hughes that commercial lands were sold at Ogle for a measly $30 million per acre.
Jagdeo said that Mr. Hughes had represented a Trinidadian company a few years ago, before the 2020 elections, and managed to secure 20 acres of land at Ogle for $26 million per acre.
“He, just before the elections, acting as the lawyer for the Trinidadian company, managed to secure 20 acres of prime land at $26 million per acre. But he now says it is too low. That again represents the duplicity of Nigel Hughes,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President also claimed that the same Trinidadian company paid $10 million per acre for 10 acres of prime land at Earl’s Court to luxury apartments in four years. That land, Jagdeo said, was vested with the company before elections.
“Nigel Hughes was not just the lawyer for the company. The company that signed the agreement, he became a director at that company and then he became company secretary.
“So he as an officer of the company, represented that they will build this luxury apartment building at Earl’s Court… nothing has been built as yet and there are penalties under the agreement,” Jagdeo said.
The Vice President like President Dr. Irfaan Ali has defended the PPP/C land and housing policies.
