Jagdeo says charges against Singh, Brassington ‘frivolous’

– aimed at satisfying hardcore supporters, delivering campaign promise
– entire cabinet made the decision on the land sales

The decision taken to have former Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, charged with misconduct in public office has been described by Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo as “frivolous.”
Addressing the issue during his weekly press conference, on Thursday at his Church Street, Georgetown office, the Opposition Leader said this move is also based on a campaign promise made by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to jail members of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

“It is all frivolous… There was a great expectation in this country that once the Government came into office, it will do the audits swiftly, find these huge billions of dollars that are stolen — because they can’t be hidden easily, and that it will proceed to charge people for the theft of money…for corruption or bribery, or something around that nature. That was the expectation among people,” he explained.
However, the former Head of State said, after 50-odd audits had been conducted by the coalition administration, no evidence has been unearthed to show theft of money, corruption, or bribery. As such, he feels the move to charge was designed to show the administration has delivered on what was promised to the electorate.
“In three years, that’s all you can charge for — procedural errors? And we don’t believe they are procedural errors!” he stated.
Jagdeo, who had chaired Cabinet when the decision was made to sell the three parcels of state land, said neither man had stolen any money. He emphasized that it was a Cabinet decision to sell the lands.
“They were not charged because this Government found them with a big bank account that they can’t explain. They were not charged for even bribery in public office. What they were charged for is ‘misconduct in public office, contrary to common law.’ They couldn’t even find a national statute to charge them under,” he explained.
Jagdeo defended Singh and Brassington by stating they are men of integrity and were hard working public servants who served under his administration.
“I know that Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington, despite all that they (Government) might say about them, they have more integrity in their little finger than many of these ministers have in their whole bodies, from head to toe,” he declared.
In providing greater detail on the issue, the former Head of State reasoned that Cabinet had accepted a recommendation from the Privatisation Board, and had made a decision that was sent back to the broad-based Privatisation Board of NICIL and the Unit for implementation.
He said, “It is a Cabinet decision which has been issued back to the Ministry of Finance and to the Privatisation Unit to execute. So Brassington or Ashni Singh could not have executed these decisions unless the matter came, the recommendation was approved by the Cabinet.”
Speaking specifically about the sale of 103 acres of land to National Hardware Guyana Limited for $598.6 million, Jagdeo recalled that that matter had been sent to public tender. He claimed it was advertised in all of the local national newspapers for almost two months before the land was sold.
Addressing the sale of 10 acres of state land at Turkeyen for some $185 million to Multicinema, he said the deal was completed after Shri Yogeandra could not conclude a sale for $16 million per acre, which was the highest bid.
Jagdeo maintained that unlike the current Government, the PPP had a policy on sale of state lands.
He also spoke to another matter which occurred during May 2017 and involved six former members of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) who were charged for allegedly omitting from the general ledger of the GRDB, $362 million while they served on the entity’s board.
Jagdeo used this to make his point, asserting that in this instance as well, the board members who have affiliations with the PPP were not charged for stealing, but in fact were charged for what was considered a procedural error. “They were Board members, but they were charged not for stealing money, but (for) failing to update the general ledger. They’re members of the Board; they did not have administrative functions, but they were charged for failing to update the general ledger,” he added.