Winston Jordan freed of misconduct charge after no-case submission upheld
With Senior Magistrate Leron Daly ruling in favour of the no-case submission presented by his lawyers, former Finance Minister under the previous APNU/AFC government Winston Jordan has been freed of a charge for the common law offence of misconduct in public office.
The ruling was made on Tuesday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts after the conclusion of Paper Committal (PC) proceedings.
A PC is where the prosecution’s evidence, including statements, is handed to the magistrate who then decides whether there is enough evidence for the case to be tried at the High Court.
Jordan had been charged with misconduct in public office over allegedly selling the country’s largest wharf facility valued at GY$5 billion to BK Marine Inc. for a mere GY$20 million.
It had been alleged that Jordan, being and performing duties of Minister of Finance and being the concerned Minister for the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), a company owned by the Government, between February 26, 2020, and July 31, 2020, at Main Street, Georgetown, willfully misconducted himself by acting recklessly when he signed NICIL (Transfer of Property) Order No. 50 of 2020, which was published in the Official Gazette, transferring to and vesting to BK Marine Inc., all buildings, erections, stellings, platforms, and further appurtenances, that is to say, Mudlots 1 & 2, F of Mudlot 3, A, B & D, situated at North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, being over 2.553 acres, by paying GY$20,260,276 for the property valued over GY$5B and being sold at a price that was grossly undervalued to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public’s trust and without reasonable excuse or justification.
The former minister had not been required to plead to the indictable charge and was admitted to bail in the sum of $3M.
He was represented by Attorney-at-Law Dawn Holder-Cush and Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde while the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) was represented by Police Prosecutor Neville Jeffers and Attorney-at-Law Ravindra Mohabir.
Concerning the transaction, it was reported that the purchaser, BK Marines Inc, which is owned by prominent businessman Brian Tiwarie, paid only GY$20 million (US$100,000) and Minister Jordan issued a vesting order passing Title to the purchaser, without the payment of any further sum of monies.
Jordan was arrested and questioned by SOCU—an arm of the Guyana Police Force (GPF)—in relation to a series of alleged fraudulent transactions in which he is implicated, involving public funds and state properties, estimated to value billions of Guyana dollars.
The former Minister, who had made his first court appearance back in December 2021, had always maintained that the charge against him was politically motivated.
