Privatisation deals…Sale of GuySuCo lands nets $1.1B from 2003, Govt Ministers among buyers

Jan 13, 2013 News

– opposition parties laud to make deals public

The Government-owned Privatisation Unit (PU) conducted 159 transactions since 1993, collecting over $17B in proceeds, according to a report released by President Donald Ramotar.

Head of NICIL/PU, Winston Brassington

Of these, there were 27 sale of shares or trade sale; 67 real estate sales; 34 real estate leases and 31 restructuring.
The release of the details is contained in the “Privatisation In Tables, Phase 11-1993-2011”, prepared by Winston Brassington, Executive Secretary and Head of the Privatisation Unit.
The report was released to the media on Friday during President Ramotar’s first press conference of the year.
The government has been under pressure for a number of years now to release details of the privatizations with the Opposition parties leveling accusations of secrecy and corruption involved in the deals.
Ramotar, as part of his campaign promises, has committed to making public the deals, some of which were contained in the 2008 report. This new report has given a more thorough analysis, although it has not yet been presented to the Opposition in the National Assembly.
NICIL and Brassington have both come under the spotlight for the billions it handled but despite this, there was a seeming reluctance to release details. Government’s decision to spend US$20M to build a Marriott Hotel using NICIL’s funds was also criticised with details as to the other investors still to be made known. There has been an ongoing quarrel for government to come clean.
While the PU and its controversial sister company, National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), raked in over $25B from privatization and other areas, like leases, it was the question of how the deals were made and whether Guyana was getting its monies’ worth that was most pressing.

Govt. receives…
Of the $17B in proceeds, $6.4B was related to capitalizations; $8.8B was paid to Government and $0.4B paid to NICIL.
Real estate transactions realised $5.8B in proceeds of which $1.2 B was paid to GOG,
and $3.4B to NICIL.

Sale of GuySuCo lands by Privatisation Unit

There were 34 properties leased by PU which grossed $1.2B. Some $300M was paid to GOG and $900M to NICIL.
Of the $25.5B in total the PU handled in proceeds, $11.7B was paid over to the government; $4.8B to NICIL with $6.4B going back to capitalization.
PU would have also handled transactions for the number of industrial estates. At Eccles, there are 84 plots while at Coldingen there are 36. PU also is in charge of the Ruimveldt Industrial Estates.
Meanwhile, PU would have conducted 21 transactions between 2003-2011 for the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuC) to the value of $1.1B.

Ministers
Lands were sold in Diamond to the Demerara Distillers Limited; Guyana Beverages Inc.; Demerara Bank Limited; Republic Bank; Guyana Bank For Trade and Industry; Housing Minister Irfaan Ali at Leonora and Prime Minister Sam Hinds at Farm, East Bank Demerara.
Meanwhile, A Partnership For National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance For Change both gave their thoughts of the release of the reports.
The 10-party coalition which has 26 seats in the National Assembly said it “applauds any move by the PPP/C government to bring to light the many dark and shady deals of the last two decades.”
APNU made it clear that it has always advocated for, and campaigned in 2011 on a platform demanding transparency in government.
“In our manifesto, APNU stated that in economic and financial deals there should be a “nothing to hide approach”, especially with public expenditure processes.”
However, APNU stressed that it has serious reservations about the “method” and “intent” of the releases. “APNU questions the seriousness of the Executive, seeing there was enough time and resources available to the President, to have made the document public, prior to the press conference or at the time of the press conference.
“APNU has not seen this document/report and therefore we are unable at this time to comment on the specifics regarding the content of the report.”

Long overdue
Alliance For Change (AFC), which has seven seats in the National Assembly and with APNU commands a one-seat majority, was even more scathing.
“For nearly two decades, NICIL has been tricky as a riddle wrapped in a conundrum. No clues were given as to the billions of dollars of the people’s monies in the iron-clad coffers of NICIL. Now, with what must be a magical wand, President Ramotar plucked out plenty glossy reports of almost $26B raked in by NICIL from selling state assets alone,” AFC’s Vice Chairman, Moses Nagamootoo said.
“These reports were due for near to 20 years. Why they were not released periodically much earlier is an indictment of the government-controlled entity and admission of serious malfeasance on their part. It took one year to produce reports for a 20-year period, so there could be no excuse for the delay.

The sale of this strip of land in Diamond, East Bank Demerara, where a number of banks are was handled by NICIL/PU.

“In ordinary circumstances, officials would have been booked for criminal negligence.”
According to Nagamootoo, a former senior PPP/C executive, Ramotar has buckled under severe pressure to disclose NICIL’s dealings. “The AFC has been and continues to be in the front trenches of this campaign to unmask NICIL… during televised debates, exchanges in Parliament, street-corner exposures, etc. The political dart of exposure has finally hit bull’s eye and it is good to know that the Ramotar regime could no longer duck away from responsibility for NICIL’s failure to come clean.”
But the AFC official relented that the move by the President is one in the right direction.
“…but it by no means puts to rest, as Ramotar may wish, concerns over what NICIL has and is doing with our monies and generally over accountability. Now that we know that NICIL has raked in… $26B between 1993-2011… the treasure hunt must continue to find the remaining missing billions.”