-amid Omar Malik fraud scandal
Minister within the Ministry of Housing Vanessa Benn says the onus is essentially on home builders to conduct necessary background checks when deciding which contractor to hire, even as they may be associated with the ministry at the building expos.
Benn was speaking in context of contractor Omar Malik, who allegedly duped 23 families and left them with unfinished houses. The ministry recently announced that it has involved Interpol and taken other measures to locate Malik.
The International Building Expo 2026 officially opened on Friday and will run through June 28. It is being hosted at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, East Bank Demerara under the theme, “Guyana at 60: Building strong foundations for a sustainable future.”
Kiskadee Watch on Friday asked Benn if any measures were taken to tighten the system this time around so as to prevent a recurrence of what happened in the case of Malik. She responded that the expos usually feature all kinds of companies offering their services.
“We cannot tell you, if you have a house that you’re building, whom you should select. Just like if you’re going to buy a car or trying to get any other product or service, you have to do the necessary background checks as best as you can,” she said, adding, “Unfortunately this has occurred; unfortunately, there are people who are unscrupulous. We are very unhappy that this has happened to persons.”
Benn said the legal process now has to take its course and that she was not in a position to provide an update on Malik’s case. “The legal process has to take its course and the necessary authorities, particularly the police, will have to pronounce on that.”
A number of the persons who handed over money are now in difficult situations.
One of Malik’s victims, 29-year-old Shereeza Sahid of Diamond Scheme, East Bank Demerara, was left with an unfinished house and a higher mortgage, while at the same time having to pay a rent.
Sahid, a health and safety officer who works at least 12 hours a day to make ends meet, while also studying at the University of Guyana, is among the young professional homeowners who was affected by Malik, said to be a foreign national who left the country with over $100m in total from the families.
It all began for Sahid at a building expo where Malik had a booth encouraging persons to sign up with him as their building contractor. The process seemed legitimate because for him to start building, persons would have had to pay the Ministry of Housing in full for their land. In Sahid’s case, it was $750,000 at the time. “In Guyana, it’s hard to get a land, so you meet someone at housing and obviously it seems legit, so you go with it,” Sahid stated in an interview with Kiskadee Watch on June 13.
Sahid then began reaching out to the Housing Ministry, sending about six letters along with numerous phone calls and emails, but was unable to obtain any meaningful feedback or transparency regarding the matter. On one occasion, she said she was even advised to use her own funds to complete the house. She added that she has visited the ministry so many times that staff members now recognise her by name, yet she has still been unable to secure a meeting with the minister.
Another victim, a 32-year-old man, also of Diamond Housing Scheme who preferred anonymity, told this publication that he decided to complete the house on his own when he realised that the government and bank will not come to his rescue in any way. As he continues to pay the $16.5m mortgage that he took from the New Building Society (NBS), he said he still has a good way to go in completing the payments.
About three hours after Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed had brought the situation to light recently, the Ministry of Housing issued a statement in which it said it is actively pursuing enforcement actions and investigations into Malik. It said multiple public notices were issued, including in August 2025, urging Malik to address outstanding financial matters. Following his non-compliance, the matter was reported to the Guyana Police Force, and international agencies, including Interpol, the FBI, and CARICOM IMPACS, have since been engaged due to his departure from Guyana.
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