High Court blocks Chief Magistrate from hearing Singh, Brassington case

SOCU charges

High Court judge, Justice Franklin Holder has granted an application filed by lawyers for former Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh and former National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Head Winston Brassington, to halt the proceedings at the Magistrates’ Courts with respect to criminal charges of misconduct in public office laid against them.

The direction was made on Monday to have a stay of proceedings by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan until the High Court completed the challenge for the dismissal of the charges case.
This, therefore, means that Dr Singh and Brassington are no longer required to appear at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on June 5, 2018 as was ruled by the Chief Magistrate.
Three criminal charges were brought against the two former officials by the State through the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) in relation to the sale of lands.
Dr Singh and Brassington are being represented by a battery of lawyers, including former Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall, Senior Counsel Stanley Moore, Sase Gunraj, Ronald Burch-Smith and Mark Waldron.

Following the in-camera proceedings, Attorney Nandlall said that the Judge reasoned that the integrity of the legal process has to be protected.
“The reasoning is you can’t have an inferior court to hear and determine charges when their validity has been challenged in the High Court,” Nandlall told reporters.
He observed that Justice Holder’s stay of proceedings was granted in light of fixed date application proceedings, which are set to be heard before acting Chief Justice Roxane George. This relates to Dr Singh and Brassington’s application to have all of the charges quashed. The first hearing of that case will be on May 25.
On April 12, SOCU instituted charges against the former Government officials, who worked under People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administrations.
On May 8, 2018, Dr Singh and Brassington appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts and were released on $6 million bail each.
In the three charges that were advanced by SOCU, it was indicated that Singh, being the Chairman of NICIL and Brassington being the CEO in December of 2008 by way of Agreement of Sale and Purchase sold to Scady Business Corporation a tract of State land (4.7 acres) being a portion of Plantation Liliendaal, situated on the East Coast of Demerara for the sum of $150,000, 000 “knowing that the said property was valued at $340,000,000 by Rodrigues Architects Associate, a competent valuation officer.”
Similarly, the other charge outlined that Singh and Brassington sold to Multicinemas Guyana Inc a plot of State land (10 acres) at Turkeyen for the sum of $185,037,000 “without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer”.
Moreover, it was outlined that Singh and Brassington in 2009, by way of an agreement of sale and Purchase sold to the National Hardware Guyana Limited a tract of State land (103 acres), being a portion of Plantation Liliendaal and Turkeyen for the sum of $598, 659,398 (VAT exclusive) “without first having procured a valuation of the said property from a competent valuation officer”.
However, after these charges were instituted, Nandlall challenged their validity in the High Court. Since the institution of the charges, a number of legal scholars have commented on the matter, with former Speaker, Senior Counsel Ralph Ramkarran deeming the charges unconstitutional on the grounds that Singh and Brassington were not “public officers” in accordance with the Constitution. (Shemuel Fanfair)