Dear Editor,
For the record, NICIL reported in 2004 that it earned $29B from business transactions in 2003. It was also reported that NICIL paid $9B as dividends into the Consolidated Fund. And in rebuttal to Mr Ramjattan’s claim that NICIL could be sitting on $50B, given that more state assets were sold since the $29B declaration in 2003, Mr Brassington said NICIL actually has $700M in current investments.
Mr Brassington’s maths is way beyond fuzzy, but it has to strain credulity for him to think Guyanese do not know that billions of dollars are still unaccounted for, even if we try to work with the 2003 figure. If NICIL received $29B in 2003, paid the CF $9B and has $700M in investments, where is the remaining $19.3B?
Mr Brassington also keeps repeating the ill-advised assumption that NICIL is both a state and a private entity, perhaps hoping that by repeating it often it will be true. A company established by the state is a public company, even though the principles of its business operations may be similar to other private businesses.
From a responsibility, accountability and transparency standpoint, its shareholders are the people of Guyana, thus making its operations and financial dealings subject to public scrutiny via the nation’s highest decision-making body: Parliament.
And since it comes under the Companies Act, then it should be in compliance with the requirement of being audited and filing its annual accounts. So, we have the fuzzy maths problem, the dual status public-private entity dichotomy issue and the failure to file annual accounts quandary, and instead of trying to straighten out the situation, Mr Brassington becomes defensive, combative and, when finally cornered, states his willingness to appear before Parliament and offers to step down if he is found guilty of corruption. Talk about a volte face under pressure, this is it!
But let us have no illusions that Mr Brassington is a one-man marching band here. He is one of several players who knew about NICIL’s operations, so if he were to be found guilty, then all of the others would be just as guilty. That’s right, Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh is the Chairman of NICIL, and if NICIL had to submit reports to the Finance Ministry, then Dr Singh submitted reports to himself. What baloney!
This is the same Dr Singh who had ministerial responsibility for the Guyana Insurance Commission when Clico (Guyana) was violating the Insurance Act that forbids local insurance companies to invest more than 15% of local funds overseas. When Clico (Guy) collapsed, it had invested 53% of local funds overseas, and this violation was known to the then Insurance Commissioner who wrote the Clico CEO about it. How could Dr Singh not know about that violation that carried fines and prison time? Likewise, how could Dr Singh not know about the shenanigans in NICIL?
Before I close, I want to make it abundantly clear to all the PPP apologists who think this push to get Mr Brassington to answer questions about NICIL is a witch-hunt; it is not. It is in keeping with the decision of voters on November 28, 2011, who asked that something – anything legal – be done to help rein in the runaway PPP regime from continuing to engage in its excesses, where accountability, transparency and responsibility were thrown out the window under Bharrat Jagdeo.
All that Guyanese, at home and abroad, really want after November 28, 2011 is to restore their faith and confidence in their government, with a working checks and balance system; to have a government that upholds the law across the board or at least take steps to correct past mistakes, and respects the intelligence of the people. NICIL has become an insult to and assault on the people of Guyana and since the elected minority government seems unwilling or unable to stop it, then the legislative branch will have to step in and, if necessary, the judicial branch. So, let us have a date for Mr Brassington and his cohorts to show up in Parliament, with full media coverage, to answer under oath everything they know about NICIL’s operations and finances.
Yours faithfully,
Emile Mervin
