Thursday August 19,

Tuesday’s auction of property belonging to two Jamaat al Muslimeen members may not end there, since the State may move against the property of other Muslimeen members once this is located, the State signalled yesterday. 

Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal confirmed the situation yesterday on behalf of her client Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, representing the State. 

Seetahal was commenting on Tuesday’s auction of seven properties belonging to Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr and another belonging to Muslimeen member Kala Akii Bua.

A ninth property at La Puerta, also due to be auctioned, did not attract the required level of bidding. The eight properties were auctioned at City Hall, Port-of-Spain, according to the 2009 court order mandating sale of the properties for the State to recoup costs pertaining to damages and loss of property from the July 1990 coup by the Muslimeen. 

Some $42 million in arrears was due up to April 2010. Two of the properties—at Queen’s Park East and at Dibe Long Circular—were purchased by the son and wife of Bakr for a total of $2.4 million.

Another property at Maharaj Lands, Marabella, was purchased for $1.6 million by attorney Anthony Cherry on behalf of a client. Retired Tacarigua businessman S Balkaran purchased two sea front properties at Mayaro and Las Cuevas at a total cost of $452,000. 

Another businessman, by name of Nagessar also purchased the rest of the properties which involved several plots of land at Couva for several hundred thousand dollars. 

Purchasers also had to pay outstanding taxes owed on properties. This ranged in amounts up to $1,218.60. Yesterday, Seetahal said the total estimated value of the nine properties involved—including the parcels of Couva land—was given by independent valuators as $8.3 million in 2009. 

Therefore, in light of that fact the purchase prices paid and outstanding taxes which were due on the property—which brought the final take on the auction up to about $6 million—was reasonable, according to Seetahal.

She said the State never intended to recoup $42 million from the auction. “But the State got a significant portion of the value of the properties back,” Seetahal added. 

She said the State never expected to realise the entire $42 million in arrears, since the State was aware of the value of the properties. 

Seetahal said the auction was part of the enforcement of the court order and the summons for sale in respect of property that could be located among the defendants in the legal action brought against the 114 Muslimeen members. 

This pertained to damages for state property in connection with the July 1990 coup attempt. She added that at the outset since 2006 under the last Government, the State only moved against people whose property they were able to ascertain.

In this issue, Seetahal said the State moved against the property that could be located and that was the property in the hands of the two Muslimeen members Bakr and Akii Bua. 

“This is not to say that the State will not move against the other (114) defendants in the Muslimeen issue once their properties are located,” she said. “If the State finds property of any of the other defendants, the State will also move against this.” Seetahal said parties—including the Bakr family—and the State were at liberty to bid in Tuesday’s auction. 

She said it was not envisaged that the two properties the Bakr family purchased on Tuesday would have received any bids since the Queen’s Park property was only a half share.

She said it might have been difficult to get anyone to buy a half share in a structure where someone else was already living. 

Seetahal said it was therefore practical to accept the bid which had been forthcoming on that property. Seetahal said the independent valuation for the Queen’s Park property was $4.5 million and the half share was worth $2.2 million. She also said that the auctioneer's fees in Tuesday’s auction would be a fixed amount and were not expected to be significant. 

Other sources involved in the issue said the People’s Partnership Government had moved on the matter unlike the previous administration.