NICIL transactions under Jagdeo tenure for special attention - Carl Greenidge

NICIL transactions under Jagdeo tenure for special attention – Carl Greenidge

Feb 19, 2012 News

“If Mr. Brassington believes that he operated properly within the law then he has nothing to worry about.”

The National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) was never meant to be a ‘slush fund’ for the Government.
This comment was made by former Finance Minister Carl Greenidge who was one of the key architects behind the establishment of the body.
Greenidge, in a recent interview, questioned the current operations of NICIL, particularly the fact that the money it has under its control is not being transferred to the nation’s coffers in the form of the Consolidated Fund.
He said that A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) will be looking to ensure that agencies such as NICIL, which is semi-autonomous, come under parliamentary scrutiny and further, have the monies turned over to the Consolidated Fund at regular intervals.
Greenidge further stated that one individual whom the partnership will be paying particular attention to, as it relates to his involvement in numerous transactions is Winston Brassington, someone closely linked to former President Bharrat Jagdeo,
Brassington is the executive Director of NICIL, the Privatisation Unit and the Guyana Power and Light among others.
Greenidge explained that when NICIL was established it was during a time in Guyana’s history when the country had completed a number of privatization arrangements and the entity was supposed to have managed the assets that remained, such as the 20 per cent shares owned in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company.
NICIL receives the dividends payable to the Guyana Government.
Greenidge said that APNU will be pushing for investigations of all of NICIL’s transactions ever since its establishment and particularly those under the presidency of Bharrat Jagdeo given that under his tenure most of the questionable transactions were undertaken.
Speaking directly to the entity’s Head, who in recent times has been attempting to resign on many occasions Greenidge said, “If Mr. Brassington believes that he operated properly within the law then he has nothing to worry about.”
Greenidge reminded that NICIL was established under his tenure as Finance Minister, “and the things I see it doing were never intended to be part of the activities.”
He spoke of the taking of state assets which it is charged to manage and oversee as a holding company, and not as an operating entity that is buying and selling land.
“NICIL was established not to privatize anything but to manage State assets that were left over from the privatization or which resulted from the privatization.”
Greenidge explained that when the assets were transferred during the privatization period there were residual assets such as land and properties for which it was NICIL’s responsibility to sit on the boards (where applicable) of new entities and to act as trustee of the assets.
He said that one of NICIL’s roles was also to assist the Minister of Finance in formulating policy on how the assets would be managed.
Greenidge was adamant that NICIL was “not envisaged as a slush fund or an entity to hand over state assets to friends, cronies and associates of the PPP party or anyone else…It was supposed to be managing assets in a manner consistent with the national interest.”
The former Finance Minister was also adamant that APNU will be pushing for an investigation of all NICIL’s operations and especially in relation the disposal of assets in the time of Jagdeo’s Presidency.
According to the entity’s website “NICIL was incorporated as a company under the Companies Act Chapter 89:01 on the 18th July, 1990, but did not begin to function as a Company until the appointment and assumption of duty of the Executive Director on the 15th July, 1991.
The primary objectives of the company “NICIL” were that of subscribing for, taking or otherwise acquiring and holding the Government shares, stocks, debentures or other securities of any company, co-operatives societies or body corporate.
This meant that all Government shareholdings in public corporations and companies including those falling under the Public Corporations Secretariat and the Co-operative Finance Administration Institutions were to be transferred to NICIL.
Effective January 1, 2002 a Management Co-operation Agreement was signed, appointing the Privatisation Unit (PU) as exclusive manager of NICIL. It was agreed that the collecting and accounting of privatisation proceeds, rents, dividends and other income of the combined entity will be done in the name of NICIL. It was also agreed that all costs/expenses of the combined entity (PU/NICIL) will be regarded as costs of NICIL.