The Holland lands at the center of the controversy surrounding Minister Without Portfolio J.C Hutchinson has been passed on to the Agro-Investment Corporation on the instruction of Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
That’s according to Managing Director of SCJ Holdings, Joseph Shoucair.
The move comes as the company which sought to lease the lands, Holland Producers Limited, HPL, has failed to take up the offer.
However, the SCJH, is uncertain if any benefit will redound to them from the one year period the land was in HPL’s hands.
According to SCJ Holdings, despite being given leave to manage the Holland Lands for over a year, HPL failed to respond to a July 9 letter regarding pursuing a lease.
The company was introduced to SCJH via then Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Agriculture, J.C Hutchinson.
However, according to the report, SCJH was not informed or aware that a Director of the Company, Lola Marshal Williams, was the mother of Mr. Hutchinson’s son.
Mr. Shoucair told today’s sitting of Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee, a business operated by the Minister’s son on the property has also been ordered closed.
It’s understood HPL has been subletting parcels of the land to farmers at a cost of nine thousand dollars per acre.
However, it seems uncertain as to whether SCJH itself will be able to reap any financial benefit from the period it was turned over.
HPL was given one year early possession of the land pending a lease agreement.
Mr. Shoucair says in hindsight the lack of a lease was a bad decision.
