NICIL Head Winston Brassington yesterday said the acquisition by his brother of 30% of the shares in an entity whose privatisation he had presided over seven years earlier was above board and not a case of corruption as alleged by Alliance For Change Chairman Khemraj Ramjattan.
In the latest of a stream of salvoes between the two, Ramjattan accused Executive Director of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Brassington of not only corruption, but fraud, citing a Hand in Hand Trust share transaction involving his brother, Jonathan Brassington.
In a statement, Ramjattan said that he had evidence of fraud and cited Brassington’s pledge in yesterday’s Stabroek News that he would resign his post if his accusers could produce evidence to support their allegations. Ramjattan said that he had evidence of fraud, corruption and mounting irregularities surrounding NICIL.
“Now, let me relate this strange story of two Brassingtons. Hand in Hand Trust Company Inc. is the former GNCB Trust which was privatized under Mr. Winston Brassington. NICIL retained a minority shareholder in Hand in Hand Trust Company Inc. where it is represented by Mr. Winston Brassington. On 24th August, 2011, Mr. Winston Brassington signed a special resolution on behalf of a Jonathan Brassington who sometime in 2009 became the owner of 2,250,000 of the shares in Hand in Hand Trust Co. Inc. With this 45% stake of the share issue in 2009, a Brassington became the second largest shareholder in a Brassington-privatised company. This is not only corruption: it meets the test of fraud,” said Ramjattan’s statement.
In his own statement in response, Brassington said Ramjattan is clutching at straws and rejected his allegations.
Brassington said that GNCB Trust was privatised a decade ago through the sale of a 90% interest to Hand In Hand Trust. “Today, NICIL owns 3% and had no influence on the operations of the entity; it has no directors on the Board since privatisation,” said Brassington.
He said that in 2009, Hand in Hand Trust – renamed from GNCB Trust – a private company, sought private equity investment. “As a result, Jonathan Brassington, my brother, a US citizen, a successful overseas based Guyanese, acquired 30% of HIH Trust. This was seven years after the privatisation. As is customary, any person acquiring more than 25% of a financial institution has to be approved by the Bank of Guyana, as a fit and proper person. This was done,” he said.
“There is no conflict, if a relative of mine, invests in a private entity many years after it is privatised. Notwithstanding, prior to the acquisition by my brother of 30% of Hand In Hand Trust in 2009, I brought this transaction to the attention of the Minister of Finance and the Attorney General, first for information, and secondly to determine whether they saw any conflict.
There was no indication of any conflict. There is no corruption if a private company enters into a contract with another private person. This is not corruption; this is not fraud,” said Brassington.
Ramjattan also argued in his statement yesterday that Hand-in-Hand Trust is part of the Group which invested hundreds of millions of dollars of NIS funds in the Berbice Bridge Company “of which Winston Brassington was the financial architect.” Ramjattan said that “that investment daily rips off Berbicians and other Guyanese who are forced to use the Bridge.”
With regard to Hand in Hand’s investment in the Berbice Bridge, Brassington said that investors for that venture were sought from all institutional investors in 2005/2006. “Hand In Hand Trust is an investor in the bridge, like many other investors. It predates my brother’s investment in Hand in Hand Trust,” he said.
“Investment in the Berbice Bridge was offered to every single institutional investor. Indeed, the investors in the bridge include almost every single deposit taking institution and most of the institutional investors in Guyana. It is ludicrous to say that Hand in Hand invested NIS funds in the bridge. This is simply not so,” Brassington stressed.
He recalled that despite the critics against the investment in the bridge, “we were able to persuade a number of investors to invest in the bridge.” Brassington said that he took credit for doing this in very difficult circumstances created by opposition persons and critics, claiming that the bridge would be a bad investment.
“As I recall, many of the critics were strongly opposed to NIS and NBS investing in this project, speculating it was a bad investment, making it more difficult to find investors. I am glad we have proved these critics wrong. Today, based on the same information that was made available to investors in 2006, the opposition speaks of nationalizing the bridge, claiming these investors are making a lot of money. How contradictory can one be?” he said.
Ramjattan added, “But this is not the only incestuous relationship Winston Brassington is involved in. He was the incorporator of Atlantic Hotels Inc. (the Marriott Hotel) of which his deputy Marcia Nadir-Sharma is the Secretary. When the time came for a Lease to be signed by NICIL to the hotel company, Brassington signed for the hotel company and Nadir-Sharma signed for NICIL.”
He said that Brassington should consult with an attorney before making any further statement to the press. “What he is doing, over and above misusing monies that belong to the Consolidated Fund and therefore the people of Guyana”, said Ramjattan.
On this point, Brassington said that AHI was registered as a government entity owned by NICIL, with officers of NICIL as the director and secretary of AHI. “NICIL owns 100% of AHI. There is no conflict executing a lease from one entity to the other, with this transaction being approved by its principals. It is quite common where there are related party transactions. This happens frequently between companies that are part of the same group, e.g. DDL, Banks DIH, etc,” he said.
Brassington concluded his response to Ramjattan by saying that from 2012, he agreed to work with Government in a part time capacity “as I transition from the positions of CEO.”
In early 2011, he had signalled his intention to Government to join the private sector. “This decision was taken well in advance of the 2011 elections and was guided by the fact that the privatisation programme was substantially complete,” he said.
He said in an earlier release posted on the Privatisation Unit’s website that by the end of 2011, he would have reached an agreement in principle with Government, that from 2012, he would work on a part‐time basis, transitioning to a consultant. “At the same time, I have made it clear, that I am committed to ensuring that those matters that I am working on will be completed or where my institutional knowledge is required, that this is available. Further, I am personally committed to ensuring that any questions regarding the integrity of the process and transactions can be addressed,” he said in the March 4, 2012 release.
