Jul 07, 2020 News
– Finance Minister may be directing “mad rush”
Anti-corruption advocate Christopher Ram is of the view that the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) should be investigated for its conduct, as it relates to its forceful bid to sell off acres of prime lands to private developers despite not collecting full payments.
The conduct of NICIL,” the attorney-at-law told Kaieteur News, “raises serious questions of legality and legitimacy which warrant not an explanation but investigation and probably prosecution.”
Ram’s comments follow news that about 130 acres of land controlled by NICIL were signed away by Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, all in a single day – June 6. The opposition, People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) had raised questions about the sudden string of sales, calling it corrupt.
The mad rush to legalise the land deals occurs within the context of a protracted electoral process, in which there have been several attempts to rig the results of the elections in favour of the governing APNU+AFC Coalition, even though the national recount has shown that the PPP/C won the elections by 15,416 votes in the General Election.
“At the very least,” Ram said, “significant sections of the public are clearly concerned at the reports of NICIL seeking to force transactions on persons as a façade for the justification of other more substantial transactions.”
Navigant Builders, a developer had last year entered into an agreement with NICIL for 30 acres of land for development by Windsor Estates, at Plantations Goedverwagting and Sparendaam on the East Coast of Demerara. However, after the electoral process became contentious, the company this year announced that it decided to suspend its plans until the electoral impasse is resolved.
Despite this suspension and the company’s consequent refusal to complete the payment, the Minister signed away the lands and gazetted the vesting order. When this matter was ventilated in the press, NICIL published what it said were three cheques from Navigant for initial payments. However, a senior officer with Navigant told Kaieteur News that it had suspended payments on all three.
Kaieteur News had spoken to another developer, who is also a recipient as indicated by the vesting orders, of acres of prime lands on the East Coast of Demerara. Under a request of anonymity, the developer said that the company did not make a full payment for the lands – only an initial payment earlier this year. Yet, the company was notified by media reports that the lands were vested to it.
When concerns were raised about the matter, NICIL sought to excuse the sudden sales by reminding of the Government’s commitment to bail out the aching Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). It said that it had started to collect initial payments late last year on the lands in question, and that since it recognised the urgency of GuySuCo’s request for a bailout, it saw the need to regularize the vesting orders to make funds available.
Ram said that the manner in which these deals are done, run the risk of Guyana losing “unquantifiable sums of money” which the country cannot afford.
“The directors of NICIL,” he added, “can hardly justify their action as being in the public interest… NICIL seems like another untethered animal that appears completely oblivious to the lame duck nature of the Government and the Minister it serves.”
NICIL had also sought to absolve the Finance Minister of blame for the deals, positing that Jordan had no involvement in the selection of the investors, “is not a member of the NICIL Board nor is he involved in the day to day business of NICIL or the SPU.”
However, Jordan’s signature appears on all of the vesting orders. Of the minister, Ram said, “The troubling thing is not only that the subject Minister is doing nothing to prevent such behaviour but that the actions may actually have the support of and may have been directed by that Minister.”