– appear in court handcuffed to answer public misconduct charges

AMID a small protest by their colleagues, former Finance Minister under the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration Dr Ashni Singh and former Chief Executive Officer of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, on Tuesday appeared in court charged jointly on three counts of misconduct in public office.

Handcuffed and escorted under police guard, Singh, 45, of Goedverwagting and Brassington, 50 of Cowan Street, Kingston had only a few hours arrived in Guyana from overseas when they were dragged before the court.

The courtroom of Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court was packed with People’s Progressive Party (PPP) officials along with supporters as the two men were ushered into the prisoners’ dock to be read the charge.

The first charge alleged that on Monday, December 28, 2009, by way of an agreement of sale and purchase both men “acted recklessly” when they sold to National Hardware Guyana Limited, lands amounting to 103.88 acres, property of the state for the sum of $598, 659, 398 (Vat exclusive) without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.

The second charge alleges that the duo on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, by way of agreement of sale and purchase “without due diligence” sold to Scady Business Corporation, land located at Liliendaal, ECD, amounting to 4,700 acres, also the property of the state, for the sum of $150,000,000 knowing that the said property was valued at $340,000,000 by Rodrigues Architects Associate.

The final charge alleges that the former finance minister and former NICIL CEO on Saturday, May 14, 2011, by way of agreement of sale and purchase “acted recklessly” when they sold to Multi-cinemas Guyana Inc. 10, 002 acres of land located at Turkeyen, ECD, property of the state, for the sum of $185, 037,000 without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer.
The men were not required to plead to the charge as Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) Special Prosecutor Trenton Lake explained to the court that additional investigations into the matter are ongoing.

The two defendants were represented by a battery of attorneys including, Anil Nandlall, Stanley Moore, Ronald Burch-Smith, Mark Waldron, Sase Gunraj, Priya Manickchand, Marcia Sharma and Euclin Gomes. Attorney Nandlall explained to the court that no summons was served on his clients.

“These charges are the first of its kinds in this country,” Nandlall said. The attorneys argued for the two defendants to be released on self-bail, but this was met with much objection by the SOCU Special Prosecutor, Trenton Lake. The prosecutor noted that both defendants are the subjects of ongoing investigations by SOCU. Lake requested a two-week adjournment for the Administration of Justice Act (AJA) to be applied. This will allow the men to plead to the three charges. The matter was adjourned until June 5, 2018 and the men were released on $6M each.

Meanwhile, still in court, Nandlall made an application for the bail to be reduced to $1M, but this was denied by the chief magistrate, who instead allowed the bail to be surety.
I have no fear

Dr. Ashni Singh, speaking to the reporter after posting bail, said, “I have no fear about the discharge of my duties being subject to scrutiny.” He added that the three matters are not a sudden discovery: “These transactions were publicly disclosed and published in the gazette, additionally in an extremely comprehensive document produced by Mr. Brassington on privatisation transaction. If you read the substance of these charges, there is absolutely no merit in them,” Singh said, as he explained that he is ready to fight the charges in court. Nandlall raised several questions, calling for clarity on the three charges.
“What did Ashni Singh and Brassington do? They are not accused of stealing a cent or profiteering…all they are being accused of is selling a property without valuation!? What is criminal with that?” Nandlall asked. Additionally, he stressed that the charges are aimed at humiliating and embarrassing his clients. “That is why when these charges are over, there is going to be a barrage of civil proceedings that are going to be reputation damage caused by these charges and persons are going to be sued personally for what is taking place,” he lamented.

Present during the men’s court appearance were former President Donald Ramotar; former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds; former Junior Finance Minister Juan Edghill; former Minister of Home Affairs, Clement Rohee; and former Minister of Public Works, Robeson Benn, along with other supporters.
Scandals

Both Dr Singh and Brassington had been at the centre of a number of alleged scandals that embroiled the former PPP government. Since the current government took office back in 2015, they were being sought in relation to these allegations, some stemming from the many forensic audits. Brassington in December of 2015 had said he was willing to undergo public scrutiny in the courts of law, maintaining that he is a man of integrity. One of the forensic audit reports on the operations of NICIL suggests that under the watch of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government, NICIL engaged in malpractices and had made poor decisions on behalf of the people of Guyana.
The audit which was conducted by former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, had recommended criminal and/or disciplinary action against all those responsible for the interception of state revenues totalling $26.858 billion, in violation of the constitution. Goolsarran had said that several laws were broken. Brassington had left Guyana in December 2015 and was said to be living in Florida, where he is said to be operating a business, while Dr Singh was said to be living in Dubai. The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU), which has filed the charges against the two men were trying since 2015 to get in touch with both of them. However, although the men were abroad, SOCU was conducting its investigations.

No approval
The Stabroek News had reported in June last year that among the issues being dealt with by SOCU are the $26.8 billion which was used to meet expenditure without parliamentary approval – this sum represents dividends received from public corporations, as well as proceeds from the sale of state institutions and properties; the agency’s inability to account for $1.3 billion out of $3.7 billion disbursed for the maintenance of interior roads; the $346.4 million for the construction of the High Street building; government’s inability to recover from Clico the bond lodged as security for satisfactory performance and the $51 million the contractor owes government; the $678.6 million paid out for the 2007 Cricket World Cup; amounts totalling over $749 million which were expended on activities unrelated to the operations of NICIL, but were charged to the agency’s accounts; the money spent on the Sparendaam Housing Project (Pradoville 2); negotiations with bidders for construction of the Marriott Hotel and accountability for money paid out to meet expenses associated with Carifesta X.

The Goolsarran report found confiscating of the $26.8 billion by NICIL between 2002 and 2014 to be a violation of Article 216 of the constitution and related sections of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA). It also called for disciplinary action to be instituted against all those responsible for flouting National Assembly Resolution No. 32 of 17 December 2012, requiring NICIL to pay over to the Consolidated Fund “all revenues and proceeds from the sale of all state properties, except for those necessary administrative costs for maintaining and running its operations annually.”