FID seeks broker to sell 11 forfeited properties

The Financial Investigations Division (FID) has gone to market for a real estate brokerage firm to sell 11 properties taken from criminals, the first concrete step towards the privately run disposal programme the Government promised two and a half years ago.

The division published a competition notice on Monday, September 15, inviting bids to market and facilitate the sale of the 11 properties. The engagement runs for one year or until the division clears the full assignment, whichever comes first, with a contract end date of September 30, 2027. Bids close on October 1. The Government of Jamaica funds the contract.

The Financial Gleaner awaits responses from the Realtor Association of Jamaica.

The notice does not value the 11 properties, name their locations, or say whether they fall under domestic or foreign forfeiture orders – a distinction that determines how much of any sale proceeds Jamaica keeps.

The 11 represent a fraction of the portfolio the FID has struggled to move. Opening the 2024-25 Budget Debate in March 2024, then Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke told the House of Representatives the division managed 118 real properties with a combined market value of $2.6 billion, of which 67 worth about $2 billion had been forfeited by the courts. A further 51 properties valued at $682.8 million were under restraint.

The finance ministry at the time stated that from 2012 to 2024, the FID submitted 29 properties worth $750 million for advertisement and sale, and completed three, valued at $108 million. Over the same 12 years, the division’s Asset Recovery Branch spent $150 million maintaining the portfolio. Clarke acknowledged that several properties had been vandalised or burgled and were depreciating through ordinary wear.

The State keeps the proceeds of properties forfeited under the domestic Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

The FID, a department of the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service established in December 2002, doubles as Jamaica’s Assets Recovery Agency under POCA, responsible for managing and disposing of restrained and forfeited assets.

The property backlog sits alongside more than 800 cash seizure cases worth roughly $1 billion.

business@gleanerjm.com