Brother’s investment saved Hand-in-Hand Trust from Clico fate – Brassington

Posted By Staff Writer On May 27, 2012 @ 5:20 am In Local News | No Comments

NICIL Head Winston Brassington says a controversial share purchase by his brother saved Hand-in-Hand Trust from the fate of the collapsed Clico, however observers say the key question that HiH Trust and Brassington have to answer is how come his brother was the only investor who came to the rescue of the entity and whether this was a result of his receipt of privileged information.

Some observers are of the view that the actions of  Winston Brassington in relation to the transaction are at the very least unethical even if not constituting a breach of any laws.

About whether his brother Jonathan Brassington benefited from insider information before investing in HIH Trust, Brassington responded that he did nothing illegal or unethical in this regard. He said that NICIL had ceased to be represented on HiH’s board from 2002 onwards and that he and his entity only had access to information which a normal shareholder would have access to – annual reports.

Winston Brassington

Further, he reiterated that he cleared his actions by writing to the Minister of Legal Affairs and Attorney General and to the Minister of Finance, and both of these officials had said they found no conflict of interest in Brassington’s brother taking up shares in the company.

Brassington is adamant that his brother’s investment in HiH Trust saved the entity from certain demise, unlike the fate of CLICO and Globe Trust. In addition, he said that HiH Trust had declared no dividends and that his brother had not made “a single cent” from the investment so far.

Speaking to the Stabroek News, Brassington said that any company under the Companies Act may from time to time increase its share capital. He said that once a company had majority control it could pass any resolution it wanted.

Jonathan Brassington

“We privatised the company in 2002 [with 90 per cent going to Hand in Hand and 10 per cent to government]. The Board of Directors is fully appointed by Hand in Hand. The only access that shareholders have after that are financial statements. And financial statements are public documents prepared under the Financial Institutions Act. So what the shareholders have available to them is what the public has available to them,” said Brassington.

Brassington said that neither Jonathan nor NICIL subscribed to the increase in the share capital of the company.

“The long and short of it is this. In 2008 when Hand in Hand took the Stanford hit, Mr Evelyn had a press conference indicating that they were exposed to $750 million. Any financially literate person would know that if this is your last balance sheet, you would not be able to comply with the regulatory requirements of capital adequacy,” he said; “therefore you must increase the capital.”

“It is public knowledge that HiH Trust was in serious trouble. They had to write off the Stanford investment. It would have wiped out their capital base,” Brassington said.

“There was no inside information. We don’t have a directorship on the board. We don’t see information. The financial institution’s business is confidential other than what is in the financial statements,” he continued, adding that NICIL had no veto power at HiH Trust.

While acknowledging that he was not aware whether an advertisement had been placed or not, Brassington said that in such situations it is not common to carry an advertisement and risk a run on the institution, where depositors withdraw all their money out of concern about what the company’s plight would mean for them.

Brassington said the increase in share capital occurred after his brother came in as an investor in HiH. “Jonathan’s investment saved HiH Trust from going down the road of Globe Trust or CLICO. By the way he only bought 30 per cent and HiH Trust still remained in control,” he said.

He went on to say that government shares in HiH Trust since the increase in share capital had been diluted to about 3 per cent and NICIL had not applied for more shares since then.

“NICIL has not had any directors since 10 years ago. This acquisition was seven years after the fact and three years ago. It came after a very publicly announced financial loss of HiH Trust which any reasonable person would know would impair its ability to comply with the Bank of Guyana’s minimum capital requirements,” he said. “Since privatisation, NICIL has had no influence and no ability to change any decision at HiH Trust,” he said.

“When this matter came up I wrote the Attorney General and the Minister of Finance notifying them of the [situation] and whether they saw any conflict of interest,” he told this newspaper, adding that the two officials said they had no reservations about the intended transaction.

Brassington said that the Bank of Guyana performed its due diligence on Jonathan Brassington, and after some months of this process, they approved the acquisition. Noting that the shares cannot be transferred without the clearance of the Bank of Guyana, he said the institution gave fit and proper approval to Jonathan Brassington’s ownership of the shares.

This newspaper made efforts to contact CEO of the Hand in Hand Group of Companies Keith Evelyn and General Manager and Director of HiH Trust Hewley Nelson, but those efforts were unsuccessful.

Observers say that while Winston Brassington was never on the board of HiH Trust, he acted as the representative of his brother while at the same time he was representing NICIL with regard to the government’s shareholding in the entity. They noted that because of this fact, Brassington would have been privy to information beyond that which would have been available to the general public.

Further, observers believe that HiH Trust issued shares beyond their authorised share capital and such an infraction is seen as being part of the transaction of the sale of shares to Jonathan Brassington.

In a Hand in Hand Trust resolution dated August 24, 2011, Winston Brassington signed on behalf of his brother Jonathan Brassington while Marcia Nadir Sharma, Brassington’s deputy at NICIL, signed on his behalf.
“There was nothing to suggest that he was acting under the authority of a power of attorney,” the observer said.

“The shares his brother took up are preferential shares not ordinary shares, as is the case of the shares government holds in the company. Therefore that is a clear conflict of interest. He supported the relegation of the priority rights, acting to the detriment of the government,” the observer said. However, Brassington said that they were common shares and not preferential shares.

In June 2009, Evelyn spoke of a plan to restore the capital adequacy of HiH Trust. At the time, he said that the plan would have taken between two weeks and three months to be approved by the Bank of Guyana. He said then that it was essentially a proposal which outlined how the company intended to increase its capital.

Around March of 2009 HiH Trust revealed that it had invested approximately $822 million (at an exchange rate of $203 to US $1) the year before in the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank.

That bank was one of several institutions which were forced to cease operations after the Stanford Financial Group headed by now jailed Allen Stanford came under scrutiny for running what was a suspected ponzi scheme.
There was an acknowledgement on the part of HiH Trust that the likelihood of retrieving the investment was dim and its loss would erode the entity’s capital base.

In December 2002, HiH acquired 90 per cent of the shareholding of Guyana National Cooperative Bank Trust (GNCBT) from the Government of Guyana. According to a note on its website, HiH viewed the acquisition of GNCBT as a key move in pursuance of its corporate objective of providing a total package of financial services.

“It saw the acquisition of the shares of GNCBT as the basis of synergy between this trust company and the other members of the Hand-in-Hand Group of companies,” HiH’s website said.

In 2004, GNCBT was renamed ‘The Hand-in-Hand Trust Corporation Inc and the company directed efforts towards retaining the existing goodwill of the GNCBT “while at the same time capitalizing on the strength of the Hand-in-Hand…”

The site said that the Hand-in-Hand Trust Corporation Inc was first established as a Department of the Guyana National Co-operative Bank and then was incorporated as the GNCB Trust Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank with a share capital of $10,000 on December 29, 1971. This was increased to $100,000 on September 4, 1973. According to HiH, a decision was made in 1977 to have the GNCB Trust Company reconstituted as the GNCB Trust Corporation under Co-operative Finance Administration (COFA) in accordance with the GNCB Trust Corporation Act No 13 of 1977 whereby all the shares held by the GNCB were transferred and vested in COFA.

It states that by Order No. 26 of 1987 the authorized share capital was increased to $10,000,000, divided into 100,000 shares valued at $100 each and a decision was taken by the Board to have the sum of $6,500,000 of the reserves which amounted to $6,522,369 as at December 31, 1986 converted into 65,000 shares as at September 1, 1987. The issued shares of the corporation were 65,501 shares as at September 1, 1987.
Again by Order dated December 6, 1996 the authorized share capital was increased to $250,000,000 shares valued at $100 each which was accompanied by the capitalisation of reserves for the said share capital to be fully subscribed, the website states.

On December 5, 1998 by an Order the Minister of Finance deemed the Trust Corporation a Public Company Limited with effect from January 6, 1999. On November 10, 2002 the Trust Corporation was privatized resulting in the Hand-in-Hand Mutual Fire Insurance Company Limited acquiring 90 per cent of its shares. It said that subsequently HiH Fire sold some of its shares to Hand-in-Hand Mutual Life Insurance Company and Guyana Co-operative Insur-ance Service Ltd.

Unfounded story. The AFC ran out of snake oil so they resort to toilet paper reporting.

It is President Ramotar’s only game of survival, so it has to be played

It is coming on to 21 years since the PPP is in power. If a citizen is twenty-one years old (Peter Ramsaroop told me two weeks ago about sixty percent of the nation is below 21) then that person has no firsthand knowledge of the government of President Forbes Burnham.
The PPP knows this and in every election, on every state occasion, the PPP milks its depraved historiography by telling us about the wrong things President Burnham did. Why say it when more than eighty percent of the country does not know about it because either they were born just as Burnham was moving off the scene or they emerged after Mr. Burnham was gone?
So why on every occasion, without exception, what Burnham did is brought up for the audience to digest? Because it is the only game a twenty-one-year-old regime knows. In those twenty-one years, the regime clings to Burnham’s mistakes to keep the flames alive because the gasoline has created far more mistakes than Burnham.
The latest act in this game is President Ramotar telling the audience at UG’s 50th anniversary the bad things Burnham did and he cited the refusal by the PNC Government to employ Walter Rodney at UG.
On reading that, immediately I said to myself I cannot let Ramotar get away with that vulgarity. I will ask for readers’ indulgence while I pen a brief note on Ramotar and his party and his government on me at UG. After twenty-six years of service, my contract was terminated without any complaint from any section of the University and without a hearing. The termination was done by the PPP-dominated Council. That is all I want to say.
What needs to be said about UG under the PPP, the party of Mr. Ramotar, is that a lecturer accused of graphic sexual descriptions in his classroom of the different acts of sex was allowed a hearing and permitted to have legal representation.
Let us go off of UG, a topic most Guyanese are familiar with. Let’s look at what happened in the twenty-one years.
So Mr. Ramotar spoke of the bad guy, Burnham, who didn’t give Walter Rodney a job. A foreign company came to this country and employed a learned young lawyer. Because the lawyer was once involved with a civil society group, Transparency Institute, the foreign company was told either you part company with this lawyer that the Guyana Government sees as an anti-government critic or we will not give you a licence.
For more details see my column of Friday, September 6, 2013 captioned, “A story in 2013 that Guyanese do not know about.”
Mr. Ramotar can tell a nation that has no firsthand knowledge of Mr. Burnham’s government, but Mr. Ramotar’s regime did exactly to me what Burnham did to Rodney, The PPP did to this lawyer what Burnham did to Rodney. It is not only the weird and warped psychology of the PPP that was on display when Mr. Ramotar spoke, but the depraved approach to historiography by most if not all PPP leaders.
If there is any scholar I felt sorry for as Mr. Ramotar spoke, it was our brilliant historian, Catholic nun, Sister Mary Noel Menezes. She was invited to be part of the panel, but did not deserve to listen to that crude propaganda of Mr. Ramotar. Mr. Ramotar and all his acolytes and colleagues in the PPP will go on to propagate such crude propaganda. They have to. It is the only game they know. It is the only thing they have going for them – tell the Guyanese people how bad were the opposition when they were in power.
The naked attempt to rewrite history by the PPP will go on, as the PPP’s inglorious role gets more stained and sordid, and as history records it. And history is recording it. History knows that Forbes Burnham denied Walter Rodney employment at UG. But now many of our young folks know that. But much to the exasperation of Ramotar, these young people know about who is doing what to the Guyanese nation these past twenty-one years.
They know who don’t care that Guyana has become the most fetid city in the entire world. And yes, I say without fear of reproach, the worst in the world. But wait a minute! Most Guyanese know who the PPP blames for the rotten environments of Georgetown. Why of course, you guessed it – President Forbes Burnham. Fact Number One – he died since 1985. Fact Number Two – Mr. Ramotar’s party is in power 21 years now.

From the FB page of Dr Khemraj

"Please allow me to share some of my thoughts on this date which marks the 21st anniversary of the PPP in government. We were able to have a brief few years of democracy but things went downward after 1997 for various reasons (today we have free and unfair elections). The PPP has denied the Guyanese people local government elections for 18 years. Now that is democracy denied! The party abuses the state media even though the NCN and Chronicle are owned by all Guyanese. Opposition viewpoints are completely excluded from NCN and Chronicle. The Jagdeo PPP decided it would control all aspects of the society from the University of Guyana to the Private Sector Commission. A new business class of like-minded persons was nurtured. Jagdeo called this class the “newly emerging private sector” (NEPs). Tax payers’ resources were redistributed to the members of the NEPs while many in the traditional business class were seen as anti-government.

While drug smuggling goes back many years, cocaine exports and gun running took off under the Jagdeo PPP, which has been reluctant for many years to reform the police force and today pursues superficial changes. In some villages drug abuse is as rampant as alcohol abuse. Drug dealings destroy state capacity as public officials are bribed. This activity crowds out legitimate businesses which have to borrow at 12% from the commercial banks. Legal businesses are finding it difficult to raise capital comparable to 0% rate of money launderers. Drug pushing and money laundering require the skillset of graft and corruption. Legitimate businesses require insight, vision, knowhow and the technical skills required to execute business activities. Drug dealings send the wrong incentive; many young people might believe they can become rich without a sound education. An economist will say drug dealings destroy the total factor productivity of a nation. Do not be fooled by the new looking buildings. Real development can only come from better utilization of human resources, superior healthcare, and the enhancement of law and order and building of state capacity – in other words, development can only come from total factor productivity growth.

Indeed the PPP’s biggest accomplishment is the commendable housing drive, which by the way could be done in a much better way. But crucial institutions meant for development have been destroyed by this government, for example NIS, UG and the various units of the state development banks. Today narco enterprises engender not only a physical threat to security, but also the invisible and insidious threat of depreciating human capability and total factor productivity."

Mr. Ramotar spoke of the bad guy, Burnham, who didn’t give Walter Rodney a job. A foreign company came to this country and employed a learned young lawyer. Because the lawyer was once involved with a civil society group, Transparency Institute, the foreign company was told either you part company with this lawyer that the Guyana Government sees as an anti-government critic or we will not give you a licence.

Remember also Mr Ramotar and Mr Jagdeo called up many foreign agencies to get Guyanese removed. Mr Carl Greenidge was one of them.

"Please allow me to share some of my thoughts on this date which marks the 21st anniversary of the PPP in government. We were able to have a brief few years of democracy but things went downward after 1997 for various reasons (today we have free and unfair elections). The PPP has denied the Guyanese people local government elections for 18 years. Now that is democracy denied

This story is old, boring and serves no purpose. You guys swaying from APNU to AFC is making me dizzy. 

Today we have free and unfair elections.  

It might be old. But Jagdeo/Ramotar/Brassington/Irfan/Robert/Luncheon corruption is young and ever present.

You don't have any idea what's going on behind the scene from what you read in the news media. Even what we're saying here everyday doesn't make a difference in Guyana politics. The media just gave us an arousal to get excited, and you're getting more excited over a string of politicians.

And you're not excited?

Extra, Extra, Read All About it...The Heist of Guyana continues:

http://www.kaieteurnewsonline....OT-PUZZLE-PG-new.jpg

Both of those men invested their money Guyana and add the country's economy. Only KN is out to get them for what I don't know.

There is a difference between a fire sale of the nations assets to individuals of their choosing ( the PPP) and investment.  I noted earlier, Suharto build a four lane highway to his nations national airport. That was development until it was revealed his daughter owned it and can charge as much toll as she pleases. This is the essence of crony capitalism

as i always say a snake is a snake is a snake

I thought you would be proud to know that the PPP members investing in their own country rather than bailing out and run to America. Look how many radio station Bobby get!

Guyana Times claims it is a challenge to Kaieteur News – ‘Bobby’ Ramroop

Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop, best friend of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, has filed a writ in a New York court claiming that Guyana Times has become a formidable competitor and a rival to Kaieteur News.
In the writ filed in the New York court, Dr. Ramroop says that Guyana Times, a newspaper in which he says he has some financial association but is not the owner, has been developing and increasing its market share serving Guyana and the diaspora around the world.

Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop

However, the record shows something else.
Publisher of Kaieteur News, Glenn Lall, said that one does not have to be a rocket scientist to know the truth. One simply has to ask any newspaper vendor about the ratio of the papers he or she sells daily – the Kaieteur News, Stabroek News, Chronicle and Guyana Times.
People closely associated with Guyana Times report that the newspaper prints 3,800 per day. The bulk of this, about 75 per cent, is distributed to the government offices.
The taxpayers have to pay for this.
“President Donald Ramotar allows this to continue. Office of the President continues to be one of the major buyers of the paper with taxpayers’ dollars,” Lall said.
These very offices are rarely allowed to subscribe to the independent Kaieteur News and Stabroek News.
According to the Kaieteur News’ Publisher, Guyana Times never got off the ground and its circulation figures alone nail Dr. Ramroop’s lie that his newspaper is a formidable competitor and rival to Kaieteur News.
Responding to the claim that he is on a campaign to cripple the newspaper, Lall said that it is impossible that he would waste time and energy to wage a campaign designed to destroy the Guyana Times which was never a threat and will never be.
“Nobody reads the newspaper.”
Asked to comment on the allegation that his newspaper is out to defame the reputation of Dr. Ramroop, the Publisher said that it was Guyana Times that set out to tarnish his (Lall’s) reputation.
That newspaper, without checking, published comments by former President Jagdeo which said that Lall was involved in human smuggling, without any investigation and evidence being offered.

“Jagdeo, Brassington have led us into a cul de sac from which there is no easy exit”- CHRIS RAM

The framing and financing of the Marriott Hotel, Berbice Bridge and the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Plant, represents a scandal of national proportion.

Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram

This is the view of Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, who in his latest writings on the US$58 Marriott Hotel Project on his website chrisram.net, said that Winston Brassington, is clearly abusing his power as sole Director of Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), and is displaying contempt for the people of Guyana.
Ram was at the time making reference to the selective bits of information that Brassington has made available when he released aspects of the feasibility study that was done by a Miami-based firm for the project.
That study, he also noted, was undertaken years after the government would have already expended hundreds of millions of dollars on site preparation and the rerouting of the sewerage system in the Kingston location.
One of the assumptions in the feasibility report for the success of the Marriott Hotel, is Guyana finding crude oil among other economic initiatives.
According to Ram, some of the assumptions in the report are speculative and unreliable.
“Under normal circumstances and using any rational yardstick, the usual adjustments for the uncertainty of the assumptions would rule out the investment…No wonder then that Brassington is now admitting that it is a difficult sell.”
Ram said that if Brassington had not been so stubborn, he would have realised that the Marriott Project was always a difficult sell.
“Now, having led the country into a speculative investment, Brassington has to give away the Hotel to an investor whose identity he remains unwilling to disclose but who, like Sithe Global, wants for its investment, a disproportionate share in the equity of the company.”

Head of State Donald Ramotar

Speaking to the extracts that have been released from the feasibility report, Ram said, “while generously reproducing the advertisements for investors and contractors, the consultants do not help the reader to ascertain or understand whether the process of their appointment met the requirements of the Procurement Act or they were handpicked by Brassington to do a self-serving study with the scope conveniently defined.”
As such, the financial analyst posited that “this leads to the even more serious issue of an unaccountable Brassington running amok with public funds.”
He reminded that AHI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NICIL, a company with the Board of Directors comprising several members of the Cabinet, including the Minister of Finance as Chairman, and the Head of the Presidential Secretariat.
“Incredibly the Board has appointed Brassington as the sole director of a Government company…It boggles the mind that this Board can elect one man – Winston Brassington, whose record of integrity and competence have been subject to sustained challenges – as the sole Director of AHI.”
Ram explained, “in his role as the sole director of AHI, Brassington has been given complete control over billions of dollars of public funds, the power to commit the country to a US$58M contract that excludes Guyanese from the work pool, and the sole discretion of what information the public should be given.”
He said that what makes it even worse is that the only other officer of the company (AHI) is an employee of the company of which Brassington is the executive head.
Ram was referring to the Deputy Head of NICIL, Marcia Nadir Sharma, who is also the Deputy Head of AHI, a company created by Brassington to build the Marriott Hotel.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo

According to Ram, “together they have failed to submit any annual report to the National Assembly or the Registrar of Companies, since the company was incorporated in 2009.”
Ram said that the Marriott project is one where former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Winston Brassington, “have led us into a ‘cul de sac’ from which there is no easy exit.”
He said, as the prestige projects conceived by Jagdeo and now so carelessly continued by President Donald Ramotar, have come under the microscope, their structures have proved porous and costly.
Amaila, he said, topped the list for press coverage, no doubt because of the huge sums and the politics involved.
He said too that to make the Berbice Bridge avoid insolvency, NICIL gives up G$104M annually and another G$10M in interest.
“Collectively, the framing and financing of these projects represents a scandal of national proportion.”
According to Ram, while the President’s defence of public officials is commendable when justified, it is improper for him to publicly abuse citizens, particularly when his government has made no effort to engage those making the criticisms.
“He (Ramotar) should try to understand that all is not well over at NICIL and AHI, and should do something about those entities.”

Executive Head of NICIL and AHI, Winston Brassington

One day soon I'll see these PPP tiefmen in jail. They're the scum of the earth, ripping off taxpayers with everything they do in Guyana.

I hope you don't pass on before your day reaches.

jail is too good for these ppp crime family they might teach the snatch chain bandits how to really rob i say hang the mother f-uckers

Whenever my time comes around, I'll gracefully exit but I hope I'll be around to see these tiefmen in handcuffs.

“Jagdeo, Brassington have led us into a cul de sac from which there is no easy exit”- CHRIS RAM

The framing and financing of the Marriott Hotel, Berbice Bridge and the Amaila Falls Hydro Electric Plant, represents a scandal of national proportion.

Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram

This is the view of Financial Analyst, Christopher Ram, who in his latest writings on the US$58 Marriott Hotel Project on his website chrisram.net, said that Winston Brassington, is clearly abusing his power as sole Director of Atlantic Hotel Inc (AHI), and is displaying contempt for the people of Guyana.
Ram was at the time making reference to the selective bits of information that Brassington has made available when he released aspects of the feasibility study that was done by a Miami-based firm for the project.
That study, he also noted, was undertaken years after the government would have already expended hundreds of millions of dollars on site preparation and the rerouting of the sewerage system in the Kingston location.
One of the assumptions in the feasibility report for the success of the Marriott Hotel, is Guyana finding crude oil among other economic initiatives.
According to Ram, some of the assumptions in the report are speculative and unreliable.
“Under normal circumstances and using any rational yardstick, the usual adjustments for the uncertainty of the assumptions would rule out the investment…No wonder then that Brassington is now admitting that it is a difficult sell.”
Ram said that if Brassington had not been so stubborn, he would have realised that the Marriott Project was always a difficult sell.
“Now, having led the country into a speculative investment, Brassington has to give away the Hotel to an investor whose identity he remains unwilling to disclose but who, like Sithe Global, wants for its investment, a disproportionate share in the equity of the company.”

Head of State Donald Ramotar

Speaking to the extracts that have been released from the feasibility report, Ram said, “while generously reproducing the advertisements for investors and contractors, the consultants do not help the reader to ascertain or understand whether the process of their appointment met the requirements of the Procurement Act or they were handpicked by Brassington to do a self-serving study with the scope conveniently defined.”
As such, the financial analyst posited that “this leads to the even more serious issue of an unaccountable Brassington running amok with public funds.”
He reminded that AHI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NICIL, a company with the Board of Directors comprising several members of the Cabinet, including the Minister of Finance as Chairman, and the Head of the Presidential Secretariat.
“Incredibly the Board has appointed Brassington as the sole director of a Government company…It boggles the mind that this Board can elect one man – Winston Brassington, whose record of integrity and competence have been subject to sustained challenges – as the sole Director of AHI.”
Ram explained, “in his role as the sole director of AHI, Brassington has been given complete control over billions of dollars of public funds, the power to commit the country to a US$58M contract that excludes Guyanese from the work pool, and the sole discretion of what information the public should be given.”
He said that what makes it even worse is that the only other officer of the company (AHI) is an employee of the company of which Brassington is the executive head.
Ram was referring to the Deputy Head of NICIL, Marcia Nadir Sharma, who is also the Deputy Head of AHI, a company created by Brassington to build the Marriott Hotel.

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo

According to Ram, “together they have failed to submit any annual report to the National Assembly or the Registrar of Companies, since the company was incorporated in 2009.”
Ram said that the Marriott project is one where former President Bharrat Jagdeo and Winston Brassington, “have led us into a ‘cul de sac’ from which there is no easy exit.”
He said, as the prestige projects conceived by Jagdeo and now so carelessly continued by President Donald Ramotar, have come under the microscope, their structures have proved porous and costly.
Amaila, he said, topped the list for press coverage, no doubt because of the huge sums and the politics involved.
He said too that to make the Berbice Bridge avoid insolvency, NICIL gives up G$104M annually and another G$10M in interest.
“Collectively, the framing and financing of these projects represents a scandal of national proportion.”
According to Ram, while the President’s defence of public officials is commendable when justified, it is improper for him to publicly abuse citizens, particularly when his government has made no effort to engage those making the criticisms.
“He (Ramotar) should try to understand that all is not well over at NICIL and AHI, and should do something about those entities.”

Executive Head of NICIL and AHI, Winston Brassington

Berbice Bridge Company charging Ram $50,000 per record

Posted By Staff Writer On October 10, 2013 @ 5:22 am In Local News | No Comments

Serious conflict of interest around Ashni Singh, wife -transparency body tells OAS

Posted By Staff Writer On October 10, 2013 @ 5:25 am In Local News | No Comments

Audit Office woefully underqualified – Goolsarran

“Issues of national importance given superficial treatment, avoided”

There is only one qualified accountant in the Audit Office of Guyana, and incidentally, this person is the wife of the Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh.
This was told to the visiting team from the Organisation of American States that was conducting an assessment of Guyana’s anti-corruption measures, by Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran.

TIGI President, Anand Goolsarran

In his presentation on Tuesday last in his capacity as President of Transparency Institute (Guyana) Inc., Goolsarran lambasted the fact that the current Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, is not a qualified accountant.
He said that Dr Singh’s wife is also the de facto head of that Audit Office and is directly responsible for the audits of entities such as the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) of which Dr Singh is the chairman.
He told the body that the serving Auditor General, Sharma “is not a professionally qualified accountant although he is required to supervise the work of Chartered Accountants in public practice contracted by him.”
Given the range of entities to be examined by the Auditor General’s Office, Goolsarran said that the mandate is very wide and that “the task is highly complex technically, professionally and otherwise, requiring the services of a highly trained, skilled, competent and respected person with a proven track record to serve as Auditor General.”
Goolsarran pointed out that “unlike several other countries, there are many State-owned/controlled companies, statutory bodies and public corporations for which the Auditor General has audit responsibility.”
In pointing out another quagmire that emanates as a result of Sharma’s inadequate qualification, Goolsarran noted that the Companies Act requires the auditors of companies to be issued with practising certificates from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana before undertaking the audits of companies.
“Since he is not a professionally qualified accountant, the Auditor General is not in possession of such a certificate…Regrettably, neither the Constitution nor the Audit Act 2004 specifies qualification requirements for appointment as Auditor General.”
Goolsarran further stated that the effect of not having a suitably qualified person to serve as Auditor General, is the inability to attract and retain suitably qualified and trained persons to serve under him or her.
“This would therefore have an adverse effect on the quality of the work undertaken and the reports issued.”
He said too that at present and to a large extent, this is true of the Guyana Audit Office, as many of the findings are routine, resembling those of an internal audit.
“Several significant issues of national importance are given superficial treatment or are avoided in their entirety.”
As such the TIGI President recommends that the Audit Act be amended to include qualification requirements for appointment as Auditor General.

Auditor General, Deodat Sharma

The person to be appointed, according to Goolsarran, should possess at least a professional accounting qualification such as the ACCA (UK), CPA (USA), CGA (Canada).
“He or she must also have appropriate experience in an external audit environment at a very senior level, preferably at the level of a partner of a reputable chartered accounting firm…Alternatively, in addition to having an advanced degree in one of the related disciplines – accounting, finance, economic and public management – the person should be an expert in public finance and administration.”

He said in both situations, it would be imperative for the Audit Office to be staffed with professionally qualified accountants at the senior management level.

Mr. Carl Greenidge was a Minister of Finance in Guyana. Please tell us about his achievements to improve the Guyanese economy at that time.

This thread is about PPP/C's corruption.

AFC uncovers “secret” US$25M bank account

…signatories are Brassington, Burrowes

If the PPP is calling up for Greenidge to be removed it is because he was part of the corrupt PNC, your new found lords and masters.

I see PPP dem still tiefin tarass this is why we a watch dem.

Here is PPP corruption for you.