— agency last audited in 2014
GOVERNMENT has appointed a new Board of Directors for the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) as it seeks to ensure that State assets are properly accounted for and safeguarded.
NICIL was incorporated as a company under the Companies Act Chapter 89:01 on July 18, 1990 but did not begin to function as a company until the appointment and assumption of duty of the executive director on the July 15, 1991.
According to the company’s website, its primary objectives were that of subscribing for, taking or otherwise acquiring and holding the government shares, stocks, debentures or other securities of any company, co-operative societies or body corporate.
As the company moves forward under the guidance of a new administration, it will be chaired by Paul Cheong, while Sasenarine Singh, Christopher Ram, Nigel Hinds, Pauline Chase and Stanley Paul will serve as board members.
The previous board included Dr. Maurice Odle, former Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, Sonya Roopnauth, Berkley Wickham and Oswald Barnes.
The Guyana Chronicle was also reliably informed that Marcia Nadir-Sharma will be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NICIL, a position which Colvin Heath-London had been acting in for a few years.
Vice-President, Bharrat Jagdeo, while not naming persons, has confirmed that a board was appointed and will be installed soon.
With the new board imminent, Jagdeo said government will be watchful of the company, as they were not pleased with some of the reports coming out of NICIL and the way the company operated over the past five years.
NICIL has not had an audit in the last five years under the former government, as the last audit was in 2014.
“We had asked for several bits of information, and a lot has not been produced… on the land issue, we want to see who bought these lands,” said Jagdeo, adding that these documents will be released to the public when the government acquires them.
The company had sold lands that were vested to it by the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana. It was reported that lands were sold to Navigant Builders Inc., and a number of other foreign and local investors.
“On the land issue, we want to see who bought these lands… we are not in receipt of all the information,” said Jagdeo.
The vice-president said they will continue to push for access to all information, as there has already been evidence that large amounts of land were vested in individual and company names, but payments were not made.
Government also plans to ask for a list of all the assets, formerly owned by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), which were disposed of and those still in the possession of NICIL. The previous administration had vested GuySuCo assets and shares to NICIL, as part of a “scaling down” of the sugar industry.
Sections of the media had reported that NICIL will be asked to return the closed sugar estates to the state-owned GuySuCo, which will be reopened after a review is done.
“In terms of the timeframe for reopening the closed sugar estates, first of all GuySuCo does not have any assets presently. All the assets of GuySuCo were taken over by NICIL, so GuySuCo will have to own or get back these assets,” he told a news briefing.
The sugar corporation still owns the three estates and factories at Albion and Blairmont in East Berbice and Uitvlugt in West Demerara.
