All transactions were approved by Cabinet – Brassington

SOCU’s 27 cases

…as former NICIL exec recalls arrest, questioning by SOCU

In the wake of his sit down with investigators, former Executive Director of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington, in an interview with Guyana Times after leaving Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) on Wednesday, is stressing the transparency of what he did in his former post.
Brassington; along with former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh, were arraigned on charges of misconduct in public office on Tuesday. After court, Brassington related he was subsequently told to go to SOCU the next day.
According to Brassington, he was informed that the investigators would have questions for him. He recounted that upon his arrival at SOCU’s Camp Street headquarters, he was placed under arrest.

“I was told to go to SOCU the next day, they have questions for me. When I arrived the first thing they told me was that I was under arrest for alleged misconduct in public office. We then went over 20 transactions that spanned all the way from the 1990s, where every single case the valuation was higher than the selling price.”
“Every single one of these transactions was approved by either the Privatisation Board, or the NICIL Board, or both. Additionally, every single one of them was approved by the Cabinet. In many of these cases, these properties were sold by public tender.”
Adamant that all these transactions were above board, the former Executive Director also expressed amazement that the investigation has still not concluded, but he was charged. Indeed, while in court, the defence team’s attempts to have the charges read summarily rather than indictable were rebuffed by Special Prosecutor Trenton Lake, who stated that investigations are still ongoing.
“What is amazing is that even though I resigned early 2016, in May of 2018 they’re still investigating. When we were in court and (Attorney Anil) Nandlall asked to see the evidence, they said they’re still investigating. So, the fact that they’re charging me while the matter is still being investigated almost three years after the audit.”
The two men were arraigned on charges of allegedly selling several plots of land on the East Coast of Demerara to National Hardware Guyana Ltd for over $598 million. In addition, the charge includes selling land to Scady Business Corporation at a cost of $150 million, and to Multi-cinemas Guyana Inc at a cost of $185 million.
The Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) brought the charges against the two former Government officials early last month. Singh and Brassington are due to return to court on June 5.
Both men appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan who granted them $2 million bail on each of the three joint charges, despite the defence attorney had sought a reduction for these amounts to $1 million for all three charges for each person.
Following the court proceedings, both men were escorted by Police in handcuffs and placed in the prisoner’s dock where they waited for a few minutes before being released.
Former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, who was part of the defence team, described the act of handcuffing Singh and Brassington as dehumanising and one that sought to humiliate these two former senior Government officials who served the country with distinction. On Wednesday, however, the duo went into SOCU in the company of their lawyers. Speaking with media afterwards, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall told the press, which waited patiently outside SOCU, that the two were questioned about 27 allegations of misconduct in public office, even on matters dating back to 1994.
These transactions involved Guyana Stockfeeds; Marilyn Oudho; Clairan’s; Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry; Duke Lodge; Pritipaul Singh Investments; Hand-in-Hand; National Hardware; Twin’s Manufacturing; Old GPC; Anthony Pires; Property Holdings Inc; I Ali; Hicks, Linden; Sanata at Industrial Site; Mohabir, Linden and SOL (Guyana).
It is understood that Brassington will have to return to SOCU on Monday.