Brassington says he has always been available to SOCU

Former Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington has debunked a recent newspaper article that claimed that officials of the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) are actively looking to question him in relation to an audit done at the company.
Brassington, in a letter to the editor, said he found it strange that the business of SOCU was being discussed with the media when no effort has been made to contact him, and dubbed the newspaper article inaccurate and false.
“I note that this is not the first time this has happened. Earlier newspaper articles relating to the forensic audits reveal a pattern of collusion between SOCU and certain media (personnel), where matters supposedly under investigation are divulged to select sections of the media and published in a one-sided manner,” he remarked.

The former NICIL Head recalled that the final forensic audit reports on NICIL and Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI) were serially leaked, weeks before they were released to the NICIL Board of Directors, which in his view was prejudicial to a fair and impartial process.
“Regarding SOCU “actively” seeking me, I find it strange, when over a year ago, on April 14, 2016, the attached letter was dispatched by my attorneys to the Head of SOCU, Lt Colonel Sydney James, with a copy to the Commissioner of Police (CoP), with both offices signing for receipt of the letter,” he added.
Brassington also recalled that it was made clear that despite being out of the jurisdiction, he would be available to fully cooperate with any investigation and provide evidence by affidavit or video conference as was necessary to facilitate any enquiries, through his attorney, Mark Waldron.
“To date, no request has been submitted to my attorneys,” he asserted.
Further, since Brassington’s resignation in 2016, NICIL had sought assistance from him on various matters via email, with which he has assisted. He also made reference to a case in 2015, when his team responded paragraph by paragraph to the preliminary forensic audit reports. “In December 2015, I addressed many issues via a press conference in the boardroom of NICIL. I pointed out that NICIL was audited every year under my watch, and clean audit opinions issued. I recall even attending a shareholders meeting of NICIL in 2015 under the current Government, where the 2013 audited accounts were approved,” he stated.
The former NICIL Head, therefore, argued that due process should be followed on matters of interest to SOCU involving him, as he believed that any questions not already answered in prior audit responses or the various publications issued over the years can reasonably be responded to.