Former Attorney General and People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) parliamentarian Anil Nandlall says he plans to make a formal complaint to the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) over the sale of government’s shares in Guyana Stockfeeds Inc. to the company’s Chief Executive Robert Badal, while charging that the transaction is almost identical to the ones for which former Finance Minister Ashni Singh and former NICIL head Winston Brassington were charged.
“When one compares this with the transactions which formed the basis for the criminal charges instituted against Dr. Ashni Singh, former Minister of Finance, and Winston Brassington, former CEO of NICIL, one would see quickly that they were virtually identical,” Nandlall told Stabroek News.
“There were public advertisements for those transactions and the properties were sold to the highest bids received. Each transaction received the approval of Cabinet. Therefore, if Singh and Brassington committed criminal offences, then fairness and justice would demand that charges be immediately instituted in respect of the Stockfeeds’ purchase of shares,” he added.
On Friday Minister of State Joseph Harmon announced that government holding company NICIL, had sold its 6.7% shareholding in Guyana Stockfeeds Inc to Badal, thereby making him the 100% shareholder of the company.
Harmon said government invited proposals for the sale by way of public advertisements and that Badal’s offer was the only response. Harmon also stated that Cabinet approved the sale by NICIL.
Nandlall expressed concern that there was no mention of how the purchase price for these shares were arrived at. “There was no mention whatsoever that a Certificate of Valuation was used to determine the purchase price of these shares. The shares were sold at $25, each,” he noted.
Government received less than $150,000 in total for the sale of its shares.
“If the government is to obtain a valuation certificate from the very Valuation Officer (Rodrigues and Associates), whose name is mentioned in the charges against Singh and Brassington, I have no doubt that those shares would be valued (much higher),” he added.
The former Attorney General said that the matter is compounded by the fact that in 2008, the High Court ruled that the government owns 38% of that company. He added that while the decision was overturned, the current government refused to go to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to appeal further. He believes that the unwillingness to go to the CCJ was because Badal has a close relationship with the governing coalition partner, the Alliance For Change. “The Court of Appeal overturned the High Court decision, last year, and reduced the Government’s 38% shareholding to 7%. The Government then refused to appeal the Court of Appeal decision to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ). At the time, the PPP, in a public statement, called upon the Government to appeal the decision of the Court of Appeal to the CCJ. The PPP pointed out Badal’s close relationship with the AFC and alleged that this was a payback for donations made to the political campaign of the APNU+AFC. Our calls were ignored,” he stressed.
Turning to the recent case where former Housing Minister Irfaan Ali was charged, Nandlall reasoned that by the same determination changes should be laid in this case. “He (Ali) is charged with Conspiracy to Defraud and when one carefully considers the facts of the sales of these shares, it reeks of a conspiracy to defraud the State of billions,” he said.
Nandlall said that he will make a formal complaint to SOCU and “we will see whether criminal charges will flow.” “SOCU should act. This new requirement that somebody must make a complaint is also a fabricated one. We don’t know who made a complaint against Ashni and Brassington. We made a complaint against [Public Infrastructure David] Patterson. What has happened? As far as I am aware, nothing,” he said, before adding that if there are no criminal charges instituted in relation to the Guyana Stockfeeds transaction, then “it is clear that the government is using the criminal justice system only as a weapon to persecute its political opponents.”
