The Guyana Government yesterday terminated with immediate effect the services of Colvin Heath-London, head of NICIL’s Special Purpose Unit (SPU) which had controversially presided over the disposal of assets of the sugar industry.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall issued the termination letter to Heath-London, while saying there had been serious failures on his part in relation to land leases.
Health-London could not be reached for comment by Stabroek News on his termination and had not been available to this newspaper for months on matters pertaining to the sugar industry and a $30 billion bond that had been secured for its rehabilitation
London, who acted as Head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) since the Board’s former Chairman Horace James passed away in January of 2019, had reverted to his substantive position as Head of the SPU in August this year when Radha Krishna Sharma was appointed Interim Chief Executive Officer of the state holding company.
“A review of NICIL’s and SPU’s operations revealed the following illegalities and serious failures by you in the performance of your duties, all of which were approved or performed by you, or at your request or under your ostensible authority, which have had a detrimental effect to the Government’s, NICIL’s and the State’s best interest,” Heath-London’s termination letter stated.
The letter and a press release from the Office of the President listed the alleged infractions.
“These include but are not limited to the following: The issuance of various leases of various NICIL properties located in Peters Hall, East Bank Demerara without (i) public tender, (ii) valuations, (iii) board approval, (iv) Cabinet approval, (v) review by approved NICIL counsel and (vi) ensuring that the issued leases contained the standard and customary provisions relating to termination and non-assignment and other protections to NICIL. The issuance of approximately 14 agreements of sale and leases for NICIL lands located at Ogle, East Coast Demerara (the “Ogle Transactions”), and the subsequent vesting of 7 tracts of lands without ensuring that full payment was received for those lands in accordance with the terms of the relevant agreements, and without ensuring that the vesting orders issued were drafted by approved NICIL counsel or contained the usual and customary language sufficient to protect NICIL’s interests. Procur-ing the execution and gazetting the aforementioned vesting orders without first ensuring that payments were made in accordance with the terms of the various agreements executed by the parties,” the release stated.
It also cited his allegedly failing to facilitate and procure the auditing of SPU’s accounts by the Auditor General, and failing to facilitate and procure the necessary NICIL account reconciliations in order to allow the Auditor General to audit NICIL’s accounts from 2014 to 2019. These reconciliations, it explained, were performed within six (6) weeks of the appointment of new management.
The press release alleged that London’s failure to properly perform his duties and the referenced transgressions constitute serious dereliction of duty generally, not only breaching applicable laws and violating policies established by the Government and NICIL, but causing NICIL and the Govern-ment to lose millions of dollars”.
As reported by Stabroek News yesterday, a review of NICIL and the SPU found that two days before the March 2nd general elections, the David Granger-led Cabinet approved the agreement for the sale of some 21,096 acres of land at Ogle earmarked for an ambitious Caribbean Marketing Enterprises Inc. (CMEI) hotels project. The government later issued an order for the transfer of the title although the company failed to meet agreed terms, including the submission of records for due diligence and a 50% down payment. By way of his powers under the Public Corporations Act, then Finance Minister Winston Jordan had made the June 11th, 2020 order for the conclusive transfer of the title.
In February of this year, U.S based businessman Edmon Braithwaite led a delegation of US businessmen here for the unveiling of a double hotel project, at Ogle, which he had said would include an AC Marriott.
It was during the turning of the sod for that project that NICIL had announced an ambitious ‘City of Ogle’ project that would span 800 acres from Ogle to Lusignan and would include two other internationally-branded hotels, a specialty hospital in the form of a cardiology services centre and a housing development similar to the East Bank of Demerara’s Windsor Estates.
“This one has some element of a process but clearly there was undue haste to pass the title over to the purchaser and you would look at the date when the Cabinet approval came and its proximity to the elections, as well as the fact that the vesting order, which constitutes title in law, was issued after APNU+AFC would have lost the election,” Nandlall had told Stabroek News.
As a result, he said that the police would be asked to investigate the sale for possible criminal conduct. He also called on the company to return the land to the state and reapply by sending an expression of interest.
Cabinet clearance
Contacted on the dismissal, Jordan, who had worked closely with Heath-London, said he wants to make clear that the only transaction he can speak to is the one with the hotel developers and that he would not comment on Heath-London’s termination.
“The only thing I can speak to is the Ogle transaction. The only one I can speak to is to the correspondence that I received from NICIL, in respect of the company. For that, we have Cabinet clearance. I am unaware of the transaction as it relates to Peter’s Hall or anywhere else. I don’t know anything about Peters Hall or that,” he said.
Jordan was asked if his ministry checked to ensure that all the criteria were met before requesting the vesting order be signed in June of this year. He said that verifying documents was not part of his ministerial portfolio.
“Once I get a letter from the CEO or the Chairman of the Board of NICIL, that everything has been in order, I [act]. To suggest that the minister must go and say ‘show me the bank account, show me this or show me that’, then what is the purpose of the Board if I would have to go do all of that? If you ask me to find the bank account, the deposit slip and all kinda thing, I would tell you to find another minister,” he said.
“I acted on advice from NICIL, that is the role of the Minister. The Minister is not to interfere in the day-to-day business of NICIL or any corporation. That is not his role. His role is a policy role. If the CEO or the Chairman of the Board writes the minister saying everything has been done and it is now up to your part, on that basis I would send the things to Cabinet,” he added.
According to a project review undertaken by NICIL, the agreed sale price for the Ogle land was listed as $632,880,000 but the company has only paid a paltry $20,845,000 and is still to submit a number of documents that should have determined criteria for approval. A down payment of 50% was due to be made, but as at June 15th, after the title was issued to the company, only $20,845,000 had been paid.
The agreement seen by this newspaper states, “Ownership of the property will be vested in the name of the purchaser and publication of the vesting order in the official gazette, subject to, the covenants, encasements, servitude, obligations, rights, encumbrances, interests, restrictions, liabilities, stipulations, exemptions and reservations set forth herein. The vendor undertakes to use its best endeavours to have a vesting order published in the official gazette within three months of the date of the execution of this agreement.”
Records from NICIL seen by the Stabroek News shows that the company submitted a proposal for the lands on September 30th 2019 and due diligence began 13 days later.
A proposal for sale was submitted to the Board of NICIL on 23rd January 2020 and the Board approved the decision three days after.
The Execution of sale was done on February 17th, 2020 and Cabinet approved it on February 28th. The vesting order was however published months after during the stalemate over the results of the general elections.
