BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, JANUARY 24TH 2010 (CUOPM) – The surfacing of the “cash for land” deal by the Political Leader of the People’s Action Movement (PAM), Mr. Lindsay Grant has reignited serious concerns if that party forms the next government.
The concerns are over two land transactions involving Mr. Grant’s family under the previous PAM Administration of Dr. Kennedy Simmonds.
Official documents show that in 1991 it was advised that Mr. Warrington Grant, father of Mr. Lindsay Grant, be given 39,465 square feet of land at Sir Gillies in exchange for 2,240 square feet of land at Old Road and that Mr. Grant be given 91,214 square feet of land at Sir Gilles in exchange for 26,140 square feet of land at Sandy Point.
The land at Sandy Point was acquired by the Government of the day to construct the Sandy Point Primary School.
It was disclosed that the transfer of the land at Sir Gillies to Mrs. Sybil Grant, mother of Mr. Lindsay Grant, by the Crown is dated July 3, 1995, the same date of the 1995 General Elections.
However that certificate of title was subsequently cancelled due to the division of the property into two lots. However both transfers were made to Mr. Collin Francis and Mr. Lindsay Grant in October of 1995.
A Crown Grant for 46,076 square feet, dated July 5th 1995, two days after the July 3rd General Elections, was made to Mr. Warrington Grant for 2,240 square feet of land.
The Ministry of Agriculture said it at the time it had been researching the matter and there was no trace of the Government ever receiving the titles to the two lots of land at Sandy Point and Old Road that the Grants gave in exchange for lands at Sir Gillies.
Mr. Grant, the son of Warrington and Sybil Grant, has been embroiled in a “cash for land” bribery scandal with an international property investor, that has seriously called into question his sound judgment, sagacity and integrity as leader of a political party, a candidate offering himself for political office and an aspiring Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis.
A video posted on YouTube, shows the PAM Leader Mr. Grant meeting with an international property investor in which he negotiated the sale of 200 acres of land in Brotherson’s Estate on the outskirts of Newton Ground Village at a price of US$20,000, a terribly underestimated price for land in that area.
Grant, in agreeing to the prostituted land price of US $20,000, asked the investor for “some other benefits to offset that” in return for US $1.7 million to fund his party’s election campaign.
Mr. Grant has time and time again accused the Government of selling off prime crown lands to “white” foreign investors and has said that his party’s land policy is to lease large acres of land instead of selling it.
However, the YouTube video has revealed what others are calling “Grant’s downright hypocrisy.”
He has also been pushing for the Integrity in Public Life Bill, but the latest revelations have uncovered in the minds of many, supporters and non-supporters alike, a serious lack of integrity on Grant’s part.
Grant could be heard on the video telling the unknown investor how the funds can be transferred to his accounts clandestinely.
“I have some outside accounts I operate, which are trust accounts, so that when I filter the funds, it won’t really show,” Grant said to the investor.
He also appeared to be very desperate for the money and power-driven in his conversation with the investor, who he described at a public meeting as a “white “business executive representing some large company” with a British accent by the name of Graham Wells.
“As you appreciate time is of the essence…But I can assure you, that if you are able to pull this off, you will be given top priority,” Grant could he heard telling the investor.
