SCJ denied Victor Wright property buy in 2013
Published:Wednesday | July 22, 2020 | 12:29 AMJovan Johnson/Senior Staff Reporter
Opposition legislator Victor Wright has now vowed silence on the latest land saga implicating him as new documents emerge suggesting he was not given an option to purchase a government property at Fontabelle Estate in Westmoreland.
In a statement Monday defending its member, the People’s National Party, (PNP) said that in September 2011, Wright exercised an option to purchase the property based on a condition in a lease agreement with the state-owned Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) Holdings.
The party added that “arrangements are in place to conclude the transaction” although, to date, no evidence of that has been put forward.
The Gleaner has obtained an October 3, 2013, letter in which SCJ’s legal officer at the time, Debbie Kerr-Scott, wrote to Wright indicating that the right to exercise the purchase option was not granted.
Under the lease agreement, that right was conditional on the approval of subdivision of the property that Wright still occupies.
The letter related to a lease that was signed on July 1, 2011, and which ended on June 30, 2013.
The SCJ also pointed to Wright’s intention to re-enter another lease, which it went ahead with. It also reminded him to settle an outstanding balance.
On June 4, 2014, however, Kerr-Scott, this time as SCJ’s legal manager, wrote to Wright giving him a one-month notice to vacate the property and return its possession to the Government because of his alleged failure to pay debts.
The outstanding money in the letter was approximately $47,000.
In a June 11 response in which he expressed surprise at the notice, Wright claimed that he was current with payments and requested a meeting, which he said occurred on October 23, 2014.
Whether the matter was fully resolved is not clear, and a July 20, 2020, SCJ document obtained by The Gleaner shows that Wright owes the government approximately $674,000.
That amount refers to the outstanding rents that have accumulated since the last payment in October 2014.
SCJ Managing Director Joseph Shoucair, who prepared the document, said that Wright continues to occupy the property despite the 2014 notice to leave, and for much of the period the legislator allegedly conducted a yam export business from the premises, “thereby consuming large quantities of electricity”.
The government-owned property is located on the Frome Estate that is owned by the Pan Caribbean Sugar Company.
Shoucair said under an arrangement with the Chinese-owned company, the SCJ would be billed for electricity consumed by properties owned by the Government. The SCJ would then deduct the costs from lease payments.
“There is a paucity of precise data on files. It is, however, estimated that a sum of approximately $2m, in unpaid electricity charges, can be attributed to Wright,” Shoucair said in Monday’s update to Dermon Spence, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.
Wright has said he has arrangements with Pan Caribbean and has receipts to show he’s up to date with payments. Those have not been released.
The PNP has also said that the SCJ owes Wright money from his time as an operations manager at Frome before it was divested. It said an agreement was for the funds to go towards the purchase.
The Gleaner has sought Shoucair’s response on the efforts of the SCJ to settle the ownership of the property and enforce its notice since 2014, but before Prime Minister Andrew Holness brought the issue to the public’s attention Sunday while speaking at a political event.
Telephone calls to Shoucair have gone unanswered and a promise to get back to The Gleaner has not materialised.
The prime minister’s disclosure followed Wright’s call for the sacking of J.C. Hutchinson, who was ultimately reassigned in the Cabinet, over his role in the Holland sweetheart deal saga.
In a Facebook post, Wright said the issue is now a legal matter.