Former ministers to face civil charges in land dispute

Last Friday former P.U.P Minister Jose Coye, publicly said he felt vindicated after Lands Commissioner, Manuel Rodriguez, instructed the Lands Registrar, Marjorie Petzold, to cancel letters of caution the Ministry had issued to title-holders of fifty-seven lots in a subdivision developed by Coye’s CHEOP Enterprises. The development began when Coye was still in government and was one of the first land issues that the U.D.P. put a hold on when they came into office. And while last week Coye sounded victorious, it is déjà vu for the former minister. The Ministry of Natural Resources today says in a release that it now intends to take civil action against Coye and another former minister, Florencio Marin who was the Minister of Natural Resources when the land transactions took place. The release further states that the removal of the caution does not vindicate Coye since they were only lifted because some of the purchasers are innocent of wrong doing. The Ministry’s release squarely places Coye back in the hot seat, using a portion of the Chief Justice’s statement in a hearing last year. The C.J. said quote “the picture that emerges from this evidence is one of alarm, especially for the proper conduct of public officers by Government officials in the face of what would seem to be importunate pressure from the political directorate, in particular, Ministers of Government”.