Last month we told you about a major decision handed down by the high court which could end up costing the government many millions of dollars in damages.
It has to do with a large land transfer of four parcels of land finalized by the last government in August of 2020. But when the new government was elected, it cancelled the transfer, deeming it as suspicious.
The just under 2,000 acres of land in the Duck Run area was purchased from the government by a company named Fowler Works Enterprises for just under 300,000.
Not liking the smell of it, the new government refused to transfer the four Parcels to Fowler Works even though their purchase price had been paid. One of the issues was that - according to the Finance And Audit Reform Act - such a large transfer of national lands exceeding 500 acres must go to the National Assembly for approval - and it had not.
But, while the then government violated the FARA - there's no penalty in the law for such a violation!
Yesterday, we asked the current lands minister if the law has to be modified to institute such a penalty:
Cordel Hyde, Minister of Natural Resources
"Ultimately, the then government, of which I was a part, felt that we had put something in the finance and audit reform act that was strong enough to withstand the test of time. And then, you know what, how many years later, almost 20 years later, Supreme Court Justice says no."
"Yes, you did put into the law that you need to get National Assembly approval before you can sell or issue 500 acres of land and you need to have environmental impact assessment. But because you did not have any penalties in the law to give teeth to that, to give flesh to the word, then that's not good enough."
"So yes, the government is going to have to look closely at all of these laws and make amendments accordingly, going forward."
