…SOCU re-arrests, grills Singh, Brassington on several new cases

…placed them on $200,000 bail each

AFTER being arrested and interrogated for more than five hours Wednesday, 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, were each released on $200,000 station bail.
The duo was questioned by officers of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) in the presence of their attorneys–former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, Sase Gunraj and Mark Waldron–about almost 30 additional cases relative to NICIL and the sale of state properties.

The new set of cases are said to also amount to Misconduct in Public Office, contrary to the Common Law. On Tuesday, the two former public officials were granted $6M bail each on three counts of Misconduct in Public Office, contrary to the Common Law for the sale of state lands valued at $900M, below their value, when they appeared before Chief Magistrate, Ann McLennan.

While both men were questioned in relation to those offences, Dr. Singh was also questioned about several forensic audits, inclusive of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) and Guyana Lotteries Commission among several other investigations that are ongoing by SOCU. Additionally, questioning is planned relative to other forensic audits, including the sale of lands at Sparendaam, East Coast Demerara (ECD) commonly called, Pradoville 2.

In 2017, SOCU had begun questioning several former senior government officials under the PPP and others about the acquisition of land at Pradoville 2.

Meanwhile, following the lengthy interrogation Wednesday, which commenced just after 09:00hrs at SOCU’s headquarters, Camp Road, Georgetown, the two former public officials were transported via a car, at approximately 15:00hrs, to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to have their fingerprints taken. Speaking after his return from the CID, Brassington, a U.S. resident, told reporters that he voluntarily returned to Guyana to deal with the matter as he was never served a summons. “But I saw what was happening and I came home.”

He said upon his arrival at SOCU at approximately 09:00hrs Wednesday, he was told he was under arrest for alleged misconduct in public office. “We have been there whole day and they were going through files. We said it would be unreasonable for us to be able to comment on matters,” he said while noting that the investigators went through almost 30 files and pointed to instances where the valuation price is above the selling price.
It was on this ground Brassington explained that the allegation of Misconduct in Public Office contrary to the Common Law surfaced yet again.

“Now every single one of these transactions was approved by the privatisation board or the NICIL board or both and every single one of them was approved by Cabinet. This is our privatisation framework. Matters go to a stakeholder board which includes representatives of labour, the consumer bodies, the private sector bodies and government. That board, the privatisation board, in turn makes a recommendation to cabinet. We have published reports on all of these things,” the former NICIL CEO stated.

Accordingly, SOCU has alleged that NICIL’s sale of lands to SOL oil company in Linden; the Guyana Stock Feed Limited; the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) headquarters located in Kingston; Ian and Mary McDonald in Bel Air Gardens; Roraima Group; Sanata Complex located at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt; Clairan’s; and the sale of lands from one government entity to another government entity.

Other instances include the sale of state lands to Property Holdings Inc. (PHI), the old GPC, Twins Manufacturing, Hand- in- Hand, National Hardware, Pritipaul Singh Investments, Hicks in Linden, and the Roraima Duke Lodge.

“Every single case where you have a valuation above the selling price, they are saying it is alleged misconduct in public office. even if and in the majority of these cases, we had a public tender. And in all of these transactions, we had full cabinet approval …our privatisation programme was distinctly different and better than that under the previous administration, the [People’s National Congress] PNC administration,” Brassington noted while adding that eminent persons formed part of NICIL’s board.

He told reporters that records to show each transaction were produced while maintaining his innocence. “There is nothing wrong in what we did…these charges which have never been used in Guyana before they couldn’t find a single statute to say ‘you broke the law’ and misconduct in public office; we are not public officers based on legal cases and the constitution,” Brassington posited while noting that he nor Dr. Singh carried out instructions in an improper manner.

“Everything we did, we had a justification and approval from boards and cabinet, so it is a travesty of justice,” he added while opining that potential investors would be afraid to invest here as they may be the subject of “political vindictiveness”.

Asked by Guyana Chronicle to explain if it is normal to sell state assets lower than their value, Brassington said, “What is called valuations in Guyana is strictly not a valuation.” The former NICIL CEO explained that the approach is an adjusted replacement value while noting that the privatisation board, since he joined in 1994, was very concerned that properties would be valued on the same day by different entities and receive different values by as much as 100 per cent. “But then when you go to the market to tender and you get a lot of tenders, there is no resemblance to the valuations. So our board, a long time ago, took a pragmatic approach to have public tenders.”

Brassington said when NICIL sold the Demerara Distillers Limited– the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) complex– located at Diamond, East Bank Demerara, it was via a public tender which stood at $250M. The valuation, however, for that property stood at $500M.

“When we sold DDL, the piece of land at Diamond, they used to build their Diamond branch, we valued 4.5 acres of land and that valuation was over 100 per cent higher than the government valuation. We ended up selling it at the government valuation for Demerara Bank,” Brassington explained.

Similarly, he said the GBTI Kingston Headquarters was also publicly tendered and was won at $201M, while the valuation stood at $425M. “So the board has significant expertise and experience with these transactions and there is nothing in the law that says if you sell below the valuation then you are committing some sort of crime. Every day in the Ministry of Housing, in Lands and Surveys, in many organisations and boards, they make decisions based on the judgment of the board acting as they feel in their experience is the best decision,” Brassington asserted. In defence of the actions of the duo, Brassington said, the lands which were sold created “huge development benefits” as they were sitting idly by, not creating employment or investment. The sale of the lands has since created investment, employment and additional taxes.

Meanwhile, former Finance Minister Singh, who also lives abroad, reiterated his contention that the charges laid against him and Brassington were “Baseless and nonsensical”.

“What we are witnessing is state bullyism, political harassment of the very worst kind. The charges that have been laid before us are completely baseless,” Dr. Singh declared, noting that notwithstanding the duo has committed to cooperating with the authorities in every respect. “Despite the evident lack of merit in the accusations being made, vast amounts of police and state resources are being devoted to pursue these matters for no purpose other than a political witch-hunt,” he added while noting that he will not be bullied or cowed by the APNU+AFC coalition government.

He reminded that after his party lost the May 2015 General and Regional Elections, he exited active politics. Dr. Singh who served two terms under the former administration, said he respected the will of the Guyanese people to elect new leaders.

“I have refrained from making political comments, despite the plethora of issues that demand it… Make no mistake of it; let my silence over the past two years not be mistaken for any form of fear or weakness. Make no mistake of it!” the former Finance Minister stated passionately in the presence of his attorney, Sase Gunraj.
The duo is to return to SOCU Monday.