Former Minister of Finance, Dr Ashni Singh and former Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington who were recently charged with misconduct in public office did not show up for court this morning to answer the charges.
When Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan called the case, both men who currently reside abroad were absent. McLennan set the matter for tomorrow, to allow the prosecution time to prove that they attempted to serve a summons on them to appear.
Singh and Brassington who are both out of the jurisdiction were on April 12 arraigned in their absence.
They were jointly charged with three counts of misconduct in public office over the sale of three tracts of government land on the East Coast of Demerara, between December, 2008 and May, 2011.
In one instance, it is alleged that the property was sold below market value, while in the other two the deals went ahead without proper valuations of the land.
The charges stem from criminal investigations conducted by SOCU into the findings of a forensic audit of NICIL.
Attorney Anil Nandlall was last week denied an oral request for an interim order to stay the Magistrate’s Court from proceedings until the determination of his challenge to the actual charges laid against the men. The hearing of his substantive application is still to be held.
