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President defends “distortions” against NICIL
– Opposition still wants revenue to be placed in consolidated fund
President Donald Ramotar has sought to defend “distortions” against the National Industrial and Commercial Investments
President
Donald Ramotar
Limited (NICIL) saying that the Opposition has been given everything it asked for with regards to the entity.
During a press conference held at State House on Saturday last, the President said that NICIL’s audit has been laid in the National Assembly up to 2012.
He said there had not been a single comment about that audit coming out of the Opposition’s mouth, but “suddenly they are making a hue and cry.”
The President was asked whether he thinks that if his government acts in accordance with the Motion that the opposition passed in the National Assembly on NICIL, it will put to rest all the queries and “distortions.”
But the President said that he wasn’t sure what else members of the Opposition want as they have been given “everything.” However, the only aspect of the Motion the President referred to was the audit.
In 2012, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister of Finance, Carl Greenidge piloted a Motion which sought to have Government present to the National Assembly the reports and audited accounts of NICIL and the Privatization Unit.
The Motion instructed the Finance Minister to take a number of other measures regarding NICIL and its operations. The Motion resolved that NICIL’s revenues should be placed in the Consolidated Fund.
In recent times, the Opposition has been saying the NICIL’s revenues are being used as a purse for Government officials as it is under no parliamentary scrutiny.
When contacted yesterday, multiple members of the Opposition maintained that NICIL’s revenues “must” be placed in the Consolidated Fund as a measure of accountability and transparency.
But the Head of State said that the Opposition has purely political objectives when they speak about NICIL’s corruption. Ramotar added that the Opposition feels as if the way out is to “talk about corruption, and if you repeat it enough, people will believe.”
“I think they are creating all kind of anomalies and issues where issues actually don’t exist.”
The Head of State said that the media is failing to point out the wrongs of the Opposition and he is beginning to think that there is a motive behind this.
Ramotar also spoke to the notion being peddled that Head of NICIL Winston Brassington, was acting independently with regards to decisions pertaining to Government’s investment holding company’s operations. Brassington has been accused of negotiating questionable deals as the Head of the board of directors of NICIL.
NICIL Director, Winston Brassington
The President said that Brassington is yet another victim of the demonization of the public servants campaign that the Opposition has embarked upon. He said that Brassington takes his instructions from a board of directors chaired by Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh.
About three weeks ago, Kaieteur News contacted Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who has overall responsibility for Government business in the National Assembly, to find out how many of the resolutions of the NICIL Motion were implemented. Hinds said that he hadn’t such information at his “fingertips” but referred to the stance taken by Government during the passage of the Motion, adding that that position still remains.
The Government’s stance was that the Motion is ill conceived. Regarding the Motion’s call for an independent audit of NICIL, Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall said that the House had already established the independence and autonomy of the Audit Office, which made it difficult to understand the call.
Dr. Singh had described the Motion as flawed and without basis, being a vulgar attack on NICIL and its Director, Winston Brassington.
The operations of NICIL have been the source of severe criticism for a number of years to the point that it has been described as a “rogue company.”
NICIL owns and controls a number of state entities, as well handles Government privatizations. In recent years it has been involved in a number of controversial large scale investments such as the Berbice Bridge, the Marriott Hotel, Amaila Falls Access Road and was also pursuing the construction of the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Plant. It is now pursuing the construction of a new river crossing over the Demerara River.
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