Already facing several charges of misconduct in office and accused of allegedly selling portions of land with the authority, Former Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, Trevor Benn, was this morning hauled to the court this morning.
This time the charge is over the sale of land to the Cevons Waste Management Company. The new charge is related to the sale of land which is located at Track B Le Repentir when he had no authority to do so, according to Attorney General Nandlall.
Mr. Benn appeared before Magistrate, Leron Daly. He was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Keoma Griffith.
It is alleged that Benn between the 1st October 2018 and the 31st August 2020 sold the portion of land to Cevons Waste Management, at a cost of $80M without any reasonable justification, when he had no authority to do so and as such, misconducted himself in office as a public officer.
Benn was granted $100,000 bail and was ordered to return to court on June 18 for the continuation of his matter.
The purchase of the land was recently was defended by the Chief Executive Officer Of Cevons, Morris Archer, after he was handed a letter from the Government for his removal after his investment. He argued that nothing was done illegally.
Mr. Archer explained that while the property was valued at $47 million, his company ended up paying $100 Million, which was more than double the value.
He said since the purchase, the company has built its corporate headquarters on the land and has entered into a lease agreement with two other major companies for them to establish branches on the same stretch of land.
Mr. Archer even added it is unclear why such an action was taken knowing that he has been in construction for a while and no one raised the objection.
Since taking Office the PPP/C Government maintained that it will go after properties that were allegedly given away by the former APNU-AFC Government.
That has led to several portions of land including of a portion of land in Ogle, another on the Aubrey Barker Road, and several other lands under the microscope of an investigation into those deals.
Mr. Benn is facing several court matters. But he has insisted over time that he is prepared to challenge any and all allegations, which will likely continue to be made against him.
He said that he is not fearful of the attempts to discredit his character.
