And while that report is going to the DPP, the Ministry of Natural Resources will have to go to court to avoid massive compensation pay-outs.
Its part of the battle he and his management team are waging against wastage, hustling and unjust enrichment at the Lands Department.
Former Prime Minister Dean Barrow famously called that department a "hotbed of corruption" - and the main scheme facilitating this was abuse of the compensation policy through the issuance of duplicate titles.
Last night, Deputy PM Hyde told us that he and his team have had to slow down all business at the Lands Department to be on guard for this type of fraud:
Hon. Cordel Hyde - Deputy Prime Minister/Acting PM
"I believe that these guys had an epiphany in 2009. In 2009, I believe, was the first time they stumbled on this business of duplication for millions. One of the guys - I don't remember - the guy Gillett or somebody from Orange Walk. I don't know if you remember the case. He had gotten a property that belonged to a doctor. The doctor took him to court, got back his land, and then, they turned around, and instead of giving the guy another land somewhere, they gave him $150,000."
Jules Vasquez - Host
"Compensation."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"Something went off in the heads of those men, and so, it's just duplications, duplications."
Jules Vasquez
"So, duplications, you're saying, that type of fraud became a business."
Hon. Cordel Hyde.
"[It] became a business and then, you have to imagine in the run-up to elections?"
Jules Vasquez
"That you come up on compensation."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"Of course, the law is set up in such a way that the person who has the title first gets to keep the land, no matter who gets the title afterward. The additional problem with that is the way how the laws are governed, you have to compensate the second person who got the second or third title at market value. I'll give an example right now. We have a case. A guy down south got 150-160 acres of land for 56 thousand dollars. It turns out it wasn't the government's land to let. It was private property, had to be returned. The dude is taking us to court right now for 17 million dollars, you know."
Jules Vasquez
"17 million…"
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"He paid 56 thousand dollars."
Jules Vasquez
"Which one of the cases is that? I know there are some very big ones, Ivor Realty. There's the Belmopan Land Development with Fred Shu."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"Yeah, there's this one with Ramclam, 17 million dollars. And there are lots of - we have 10s of cases meandering through the court. We spend a considerable amount of time daily fighting off those cases, trying to ensure that we save the country of Belize some money. People don't want alternative land. That's not what they got these lands for."
Jules Vasquez
"They want compensation."
Hon. Cordel Hyde
"They want compensation at market value. We've had to painstakingly go through those, to try to ensure that we don't expose the nation to millions of dollars in court costs."
