NATURAL Resources Minister Raphael Trotman has said he does not anticipate disbandment of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), given that the Government-run entity is fulfilling its true mandate.Trotman told reporters at the Ministry of the Presidency that “NICIL was not established to be money-making enterprise or profiteering unit.”
Although the entity has shifted focus over the years, the Natural Resources Minister assured that NICIL is now back on track, and is adhering to the recommendations laid out in the Forensic Audit Report.

In the report, published by S.A. Goolsarran in October 2015, the Board of Directors had, during the period 1991 to 2001, interpreted the NICIL mandate in a manner consistent with the wishes of the Legislature; and
NICIL was, at the time, performing a monitoring role for Government’s investments, and was ensuring that all proceeds from such investments were collected and paid over to the Consolidated Fund.

The Government-run entity started to be in total contravention of the laws in 2002, the consultant said. “NICIL’s retention of dividends received from public corporations and other entities, and the proceeds from the sale of assets from 2002 onwards, violates not only Article 216 of the Constitution, but also the relevant sections of the FMA Act and successive years’ Appropriation Acts.

“In addition, NICIL’s recognition of these funds as its revenue is a breach of the fundamental accounting concept of matching costs with revenue, since the Government’s investments were transferred to NICIL at zero consideration. In other words, NICIL did not purchase these investments from the Government for which it claims ownership,” the report stated.