Shady land deal ..Where is Christy??

[Dr.Dudd]

Shady land deal

2008-04-19 Written by: No Author


The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is silent on reports that it has taken a decision to sell at below market value, over nine acres of prime commercial land in the Montego Bay Freeport zone, to businessmen close to the government.

The Sunday Herald recently sent a list of questions relating to the sale to the UDC. However, a spokesman said while the general manager would be willing to address the issue, she was travelling.

Available information indicated that the sale was put to tender and real estate sources said if the deal goes through, the government could lose close to $100 million. This is based on an offer from Vista Print, a United States-based company, which reportedly offered US$500,000 per acre for the land some months ago, to build a call centre.

A spokesman from Vista declined to comment on the company’s offer on the grounds that “it was not appropriate to comment at this time.”

Other overseas investors have also reportedly approached the government offering to purchase the land.

The market price for the land was said to be over $300 million, but it was not clear what the proposed sale price was to the prospective buyer, who has reportedly made a downpayment of $38 million. The Sunday Herald could not ascertain if the land deal was linked to the sudden departure of Tony Lindo as chairman of Montego Freeport Limited, a UDC subsidiary, which manages the property in question. The former Scotiabank boss, who is the common-law husband of a sister of UDC chairman, Louis Williams, reportedly quit following a meeting with Prime Minister Bruce Golding, sources said.

Lindo was quoted in media reports saying that he followed all procedures and he offered the land for sale to a company after the Port Authority withdrew interest.

The UDC, which falls under the Office of the Prime Minister, owns 82 per cent of the shares in Montego Freeport Limited, while 18 per cent is privately owned.

Some observers are asking who ordered the deal and whether it was done in consultation with the chairman of the UDC and at what stage was the Prime Minister informed?

Lands in the Montego Freeport are slated for commercial/industrial or residential/resort development and the sale agreement must be accompanied by development plans. Under the previous administration, the UDC was embroiled in controversy over its handling of the Sandals Whitehouse hotel complex, which ran into millions of dollars in cost overrun.

The government, which was in opposition then, was brutal in its criticism of the People’s National Party (PNP) administration and even accused officials associated with the project of political cronyism.


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http://www.sunheraldja.com/article/show/666

[evanovitch]

u know u read weh she deh eena dis article whe next to urs

Critics have described the appointment of Sonia Christie as executive director of the Social Development Commission (SDC), as possible payback for the role she played in the Trafigura Affair.

They also argued that it was part of the government’s approach to pack state agencies with supporters. But SDC chairman Lloyd Pommells does not agree.
“Quite frankly, I don’t see any implications for her appointment. She is quite suitable for the position,” Pommells argued on Thursday.

“Members of the board,” Pommells said, “decided to give Christie the job after the incumbent, Robert Bryan, decided to quit.” Bryan leaves at the end of the month.

The SDC chairman agreed that the public perception that Christie helped the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) by facilitating the passing of confidential information on the People’s National Party fund-raising account, and that influenced her appointment was real.

“But we cannot continue to allow allegations from preventing us from living our lives,” he said.

Christie featured prominently in what was a crucial disclosure on campaign funding when information on the then ruling People’s National Party fund-raising account was leaked to the then JLP opposition.

The management of First Caribbean Bank suspended Christie, whose husband was then a sitting JLP councillor in Trelawny, after cheques drawn on the bank’s Newport West branch were leaked. The bank never disclosed the extent of Christie’s involvement in the incident.

The cheques were drawn on an account known as CCOC Association, on which former PNP minister, Colin Campbell, was one of the signatories. CCOC Association issued two cheques for over $30 million and made payable to SW Services on which Prakash Vaswani, Campbell and Phillip Paulwell were listed as officers of the account.

At the time of discovery, the CCOC account was in existence for 16 years as a fund-raising account. Last week, Campbell indicated that his lawyers were fine-tuning documents to file a suit against the bank.

The money involved was donated by the Dutch company, Trafigura Beheer, which lifted and sold oil from Nigeria on behalf of the Jamaican government. Prime Minister Bruce Golding, then the opposition leader, used the information to embarrass the then government politically, as it was painted as a corrupt undertaking bordering on bribery.

Following Golding’s disclosure, the PNP reportedly returned the money to Trafigura. Recently, Dutch investigators probing a possible case of bribery against Trafigura visited the island and questioned PNP officials.

As head of the SDC, Christie has national responsibility for community development in all 60 constituencies and 786 communities. The SDC, as part of its mandate, also co-ordinates development with NGOs and maintains contacts and partnership with international donor agencies.

[evanovitch]

Re: u know u read weh she deh eena dis article whe next to urs

btw way , no comment of missing money at FINSAC