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$50B in NICIL accounts a gross exaggeration – Brassington
By Gary Eleazar
The political opposition and the stakeholders behind the National Industrial and Commercial
Executive Director of NICIL, Winston Brassington
Investments Limited (NICIL) are now poised to collide over the amount of money being held by the State’s holding company.
Alliance for Change (AFC) Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, has contended that moneys being held in the accounts of NICIL, and which should be transferred to the Consolidated Fund, amount to some $50B, but there is a differing opinion from the entity’s head.
When contacted yesterday, Executive Director of NICIL, Winston Brassington, said that while he was not in a position to give a definitive figure, the $50B being bandied about by the AFC is “a gross exaggeration and one not grounded in reality”. Brassington said that he will soon be presenting details of the NICIL accounts.
Ramjattan had explained that the AFC uses as a starting point in reaching the figure, the more than $30B reported as revenue for NICIL in its 2003 Annual Report.
This is the most recent report available for public scrutiny, and according to Ramjattan, following that report there have been numerous transactions involving NICIL and the disposal of State assets to the tune of billions.
This publication has seen a copy of the NICIL report for 2004 which was signed off in February of this year by the Auditor General. In that report it stated as revenue for NICIL some $26B — $4B less than the previous year.
Ramjattan in his party’s tabulation of the $50B points to the sale of a large plot of prime land sold to the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) on which it has since erected its headquarters.
The AFC Chairman pointed also to the controversial sale of land at Industrial Site in Ruimveldt, including the Sanata Textiles Complex.
This transaction was initially shrouded in secrecy and was also in breach of Guyana’s financial laws until the relevant legislation was amended.
The complex was initially leased by Queens Atlantic Investment Inc (QAII) headed by the best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop.
Ramjattan also referred to the sale of the Government-owned 20 per cent shares in GT&T which was sold to a Hong Kong buyer Datang Telecoms.This sale has netted some US$25M with an additional US$5M to come in over the next two years.
Ramjattan also spoke of significant land sales to industrial developers.
Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop of Queens Atlantic Investments Inc., who was involved in one of the more lucrative deals with NICIL
He pointed to the money also intimated for the equity in the Georgetown Marriott and called for NICIL to come clean on its books.
The AFC Chairman said that as soon as the Parliamentary Committees get down to work, the AFC will be pursuing a probe of all transactions by NICIL.
He said that the AFC will also be looking to see who owes NICIL and by extension the State, and that “court action being taken by the administration against its friends is a front, as these persons are not vigorously prosecuted”.
Responding to President Donald Ramotar’s sentiments that the accounts for the Privatization Unit, which controls the largest cache of cash under NICIL’s control is audited, Ramjattan said that if the books are ready for up to 2010, then they should be made available without delay.
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