A 32-year-old man of Diamond Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara, who is another victim of the housing fraud allegedly led by businessman Omar Malik, said he decided to complete the house on his own when he realised that the government and bank would 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. He is among the 23 young professional homeowners who suffered the same fate allegedly at the hands of Malik, a foreign national who had been entrusted with over $100m from the families. It has not been possible for Kiskadee Watch to contact Malik for comment as he has left the country and the government has referred the matter to INTERPOL and other law enforcement agencies.
In an interview with Kiskadee Watch on June 17, the housing fraud victim, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was into real estate back in 2021 and that Malik reached out to him and encouraged him to recruit more persons who were interested in getting the homes completed. “I saw the opportunity to acquire a house and a land and when he presented the design, I said: ‘Wow, this looks good.’ I was already in the system and was lucky enough to get called for this. So, I took the opportunity because what he was presenting seemed nice.”
The man said he went through the process with the Ministry of Housing in getting the agreement of sale and took other steps, such as going through Malik’s lawyer for the contract, acquiring the bank loan, paying legal fees and the works. “I was on it immediately, but I was a little green in the process because I was so eager,” he reflected.
He said that a significant amount of substandard work had been done on the house and that he decided to go every afternoon and try his hand at any electrical and plumbing work that he could do. He also tried to learn carpentry and other skills that were needed, hiring a few persons to help him bring the house to a habitable state.
The man is still paying the mortgage every month. But he said he has developed a mindset to help him cope with the reality and the injustice. “When I realised that no one was coming to save me, I decided that this is just another obstacle in life and I have to do what I have to do; I’m gonna persevere and pursue. That’s what I did. I mean, you can’t cry over spilt milk. You will feel it, but I didn’t mope. I just try to keep a level head. In this life, you can’t fight everything. You can learn from it,” he expressed.
He is not very optimistic that Malik will be brought to justice or that the families will receive any help, especially when looking at the lacklustre efforts that the government has made to deal with the situation. “Nothing ever came out of the situation. There’s no help; there’s nothing being done. But I am not going to wait on anyone because I already know how things go in this country,” he said, adding, “No one could look me in my face every time I talked about the project. They’d always look down; they also don’t know what to do because it’s a horrible situation. They can’t figure out a solution.”
The man said after all of these years, it was only recently that he saw something was posted on Facebook about it. He was referring to the post by Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed who brought the situation to light last Friday on the Team Mohamed’s Facebook page.
While efforts yesterday to reach Housing Minister Collin Croal proved futile, another housing official, who asked for their name to be withheld, told Kiskadee Watch that because the situation is not reflecting well on the ministry, increased meetings are ongoing on the issue.
“It’s very troubling; personally, I am very aggravated over the situation…of course we would want the people to be refunded,” the source expressed, noting that this may only be possible if Malik is found and his assets become known. “We have tried different ways to locate this person. As you know, we have engaged not only INTERPOL but the FBI to locate this gentleman.
From the legal end, we continue to take and pursue legal actions”, the source said.
The source explained that the arrangement was structured in a way that saw payments being made directly to the contractor, meaning the agreement existed between the contractor and the individuals for whom the homes were being built. The source further explained that the ministry’s role was limited to monitoring the progress of the construction to ensure that the work was being carried out according to the required specifications.
Meanwhile, 29-year-old Shereeza Sahid, also of Diamond Scheme, should have received the keys to her new home since 2023, but consequent to the fraudulent activities, she is now 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 said to be among 23 young professional homeowners who were affected by Malik’s departure.
She told Kiskadee Watch last week that it all began for her at a building expo where Malik had a booth encouraging persons to sign up with him as their building contractor. Questions will be raised about the type of due diligence that is done for exhibitors like Malik. The process seemed legitimate to Sahid 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 said in an interview.
The woman explained that she paid for the land in early 2023 and went to the New Building Society (NBS) to sign documents authorising the release of funds in four phases for the construction of the house. She said she had approved the release of the third tranche, amounting to $13.5 million, leaving approximately $3 million outstanding for completion of the project. However, after about five months, she began contacting Malik who claimed that the contractor he had initially hired had taken the money without carrying out any work and that he would have to use his own funds to continue the project. She said she never heard from him again.
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.
Despite the project remaining unfinished, she continues to pay a monthly mortgage of $100,000, explaining that because NBS refused to release the remaining $3 million, she was forced to refinance her loan at another bank. As a result, instead of the house costing $16.5 million, she now has to secure an additional $7 million, bringing the total cost to more than $20 million.
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