The controversial plot of crown land that was sold on St John’s Street in the heart of the city by a female individual was vested in the state-owned Grenada National Lottery Authority (GNLA) in 2013.
This was disclosed to THE NEW TODAY by a former member of the Board of Directors of the state-owned body.
He said the Lottery Authority received a letter in 2013 from the then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sports and Culture informing them of the Cabinet decision under the then government of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas to lease the land to them.
According to the official, GNLA approached the government for the land to build its head office in the city but did not have sufficient time to do anything.
He said that within months of receiving the letter, there was regime change on the island as the New National Party (NNP) of Dr. Keith Mitchell defeated the Congress party of Tillman Thomas to take over the reign of government.
He pointed out that the female who claimed ownership was never in possession of that part of the property that she sold as it was occupied by a small retail shop on St John’s Street.
The former GNLA Board member said he knew that the family members of the seller occupied a parcel of land towards the back of the shop and were never in control of the area.
The plot of land was sold just over a year ago by the woman under the Possessory Title act to an Indian businessman for an estimated sale price of EC$2.2 million.
The businessman attempted to sell the plot of land to one of his colleagues in recent months but reportedly ran into difficulties on the issue of title ownership.
Speculation is rife that the lawyers involved in the transaction failed to do a thorough search of the Supreme Court Registry to establish the true owners of the property.
Under the laws of Grenada, Crown lands are exempted from the Possessory Title act.
THE NEW TODAY has seen a copy of the Order from a High Court Judge that approved the Possessory Title of the land now being claimed by Lotto and sold by a female who once lived on St John’s Street.
