By Svetlana Marshall
CHIEF Executive Officer (CEO) of the Linmine Secretariat Horace James has been tipped to be the next CEO of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), replacing the embattled Winston Brassington.

In December, Brassington and his deputy Marcia Nadir-Sharma were sent on immediate administrative leave, pending the outcome of another audit on the controversial government holding company to be completed by the Auditor General’s Office, while the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) continues its investigation into the operations of the entity.
The Guyana Chronicle was reliably informed yesterday that James, a resident of Linden, Region 10, will soon be appointed CEO of NICIL. James when contacted by this newspaper said, “I have received no documentation,” but he offered no comment on whether he has been in discussion with the government concerning this new position.
James has been LINMINE’s CEO since 1998. However, he had worked with the Guyana Mining Enterprise Limited (GUYMINE) since it was established in 1977.
LINMINE came into existence in June 1992, when the then government signed an order under the Public Corporations Act to dissolve GUYMINE and convert the Berbice and Linden operations into separate entities.
The Berbice operations reverted to the original name of Berbice Mining Enterprise Limited (BERMINE), and the Linden operations were renamed Linden Mining Enterprise (LINMINE). James worked between these two companies from being a cadet officer and mining engineer to CEO of LINMINE, which subsequently became the LINMINE Secretariat.

In 1980 James became the first Regional Chairman of Region 10. In addition to his post as CEO of the LINMINE Secretariat, he has been the Chairman of the Linden Electricity Company Inc (LECI) since 2003.
The likely appointment of James comes at a time when Brassington is in the hot seat over a number of projects NICIL had engaged in under his watch, including the Marriott Hotel and the Berbice River Bridge Project.
Brassington was sent on leave amid official probes to ascertain if any “criminality” was involved in the management of NICIL. But two days before his leave took effect, he had publicly maintained his integrity and expressed willingness to undergo scrutiny in the courts of law.
A leaked forensic audit report on the operations of NICIL suggested that under the watch of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government, NICIL had engaged in malpractices, and had made poor decisions on behalf of the people of Guyana.
“I am confident of my integrity; I have operated for 20 years in government. We have done a lot of projects; everything that we did has been guided by decisions and paperwork that go through the board; that go through Cabinet and even Parliament,” Brassington had said.