Forensic audit… Strict penalties recommended for Ashni Singh, Luncheon and others

OCTOBER 19, 2015 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

Since the launch of a forensic audit into the operations of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), several glaring breaches of the country’s financial regulations have been unearthed. Not only has the report on the forensic audit implicated the Company’s CEO, Winston Brassington in committing some of those acts, but it has also named former Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon, other former members of the NICIL Board as well as former Cabinet Ministers and officials. Dr. Singh served as the Chairman of the Unit while Dr. Luncheon Head of the Presidential Secretariat served as a Director. The audit, Kaieteur News understands, categorically states that there was misuse of public moneys by those office holders. It said, too, that they played an important role in one way or the other in providing the conditions necessary for some of the “unimaginable scales of corruption” to take place on the NICIL platform. In addressing such findings, Junior Finance Minister, Jaipaul Sharma confirmed that the report on the forensic audit speaks to three sections of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FM&AA) 2003. He said that the audit justifies holding Dr. Singh and other members liable for misuse of public moneys as Section 48 of the FM&AA says that, “A Minister or official shall not in any manner misuse, misapply, or improperly dispose of public moneys.” Section 85, he said, also outlines what can be deemed as the liability of an official. That section of the Act says that an official who, falsifies any account, statement, receipt or other record issued or kept for the purposes of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, the Regulations, the Finance Circulars or any other instrument made under the Act; conspires or colludes with any other person to defraud the State or make opportunity for any person to defraud the State; or knowingly permits any other person to contravene any provision of this Act, is guilty of an indictable offence and liable on conviction to a fine of two million dollars and to imprisonment for three years. The report also speaks to the liability for loss of public moneys at NICIL as it refers to Section 49 of the Act, which says that if a loss of public monies should occur and, at the time of that loss, a Minister or official has caused or contributed to that loss through misconduct or through deliberate or serious disregard of reasonable standards of care, that Minister or official shall be personally liable to the Government for the amount of the loss. Minister Sharma confirmed that there were various cases of public loss of moneys at NICIL by certain officials and said that government has a responsibility to respect and follow through on the recommendations of strict penalties against those implicated. Sharma had confirmed that criminal charges have been recommended against Brassington in relation to several cases of fraud and corruption which were found during the audit. While he does not want to reveal too much at this time, he did say that there has already been a minor exchange on the matter with Brassington. The Junior Finance Minister said that some finishing touches are still being done to the report as it “exposes some alarming things, some acts of corruption which are just unbelievable and nauseating.”

Former Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr. Roger Luncheon

Sharma had said, “NICIL was being run in a haphazard way and made dangerous decisions that cost the company millions of dollars in losses. It placed the then government in a bad place. NICIL really was operating as the PPP’s greatest force in making corrupt acts realized. The more the forensic auditor keeps digging, the more dirt he finds on NICIL and how it operated.” With a new Board and Chairman in place, the government, some weeks ago, called on Brassington to explain NICIL’s investments into all projects over the years. He was also expected to state, honestly, the position of the company’s assets. NICIL’s new Chairman Dr. Maurice Odle had said that there has been one meeting thus far at which Brassington was told to prepare a “position paper” to say what policies and strategies were employed to justify investments made by the company into certain projects. He explained that the paper is expected to give good reasons for investments into the Marriott Hotel, the Berbice River Bridge Company and Pradoville Two scheme. Dr. Odle said that the Board is already aware of some of the financial assets of the company which are held in several accounts. He reiterated that the Board is particularly interested in this “special business model” that was used to inform the types of investments made by the Company. The NICIL Chairman added that the Board has several concerns. “We have an issue with the dividend policy, the manner in which assets were transferred to persons, what really happens with the proceeds for privatization, the misuse of state lands, the degree to which funds are transferred from NICIL to the Consolidated Fund and one would also like an indication about what really goes into the selection process for certain projects,” the NICIL Chairman had said. He added, “In any case, NICIL was just holding too much money and Brassington will have to say why this has been happening. Another concern of the Board is the whole business of risk taking. With some of these projects, the former government in joint partnership agreements took most of the risk. “How is the private investor not made to take any risk? So naturally, we are also concerned with some of the public-private partnership agreements NICIL got into and we want to know everything about it. We want to know why the state was made to take a lot of risk.” Dr. Odle had said that he is also worried about NICIL’s shareholder control in certain companies especially since it has made huge investments while minor investors are given controlling interest. He confirmed that he was speaking in this context about the Berbice River Bridge Company. Experts very close to the Bridge have disclosed that the current contractual arrangements allow for two entities to control 50 percent of the company: The NEW GPC and Hand In Hand Trust Corporation. New GPC is a company owned by Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop who has close relations to former President Bharrat Jagdeo. Dr. Odle said on Saturday, that Brassington has submitted the position paper and it will be examined this week so as to inform the future decisions to be taken with the company.