NICIL had sweeping powers for practically anything under the sun — Winston Brassington tells court

Kaieteur News libel trial…

Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the state-owned National Industrial Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington, has revealed, in court, that the Articles of Incorporation which guide the operations of the entity, gives it broad and sweeping powers to do practically anything under the sun.
The former NICIL head made the statements yesterday, while responding to questions posed by Kaieteur News’ lawyer, Nigel Hughes, in relation to a number of government projects.
The statements were made during a continuation of the trial, accusing the newspaper of libel, brought by Brassington.

Brassington was previously questioned extensively on his role as CEO of NICIL in the transactions. He faced a similar line of questioning during a continuation of the trial before Justice Navindra Singh at the Georgetown High Court yesterday.Kaieteur News’ Publisher, Glenn Lall, and its former Editor-in-Chief, Adam Harris, also took the witness stand in defense of the claims.

The former NICIL head had sued Kaieteur News for libel over the “Dem Boys Seh” articles, which he claims, contained offensive and defamatory content against him.According to him, the reference in the article to “that fat crook Brazzy” in the satirical column of the newspaper meant and was understood to mean that the newspaper and its editor sought to convey that he, as NICIL’s head was “dishonest, had been guilty of criminal activity and corrupt practices” in the conduct of his work. The projects included the award of a road construction contract for US$18M in the first phase of the Amaila Falls Hydro Project.

Under further cross-examination yesterday, Brassington revealed that NICIL, was incorporated in 1990 to acquire and hold Government shares, stocks, debentures or other types of assets, has unlimited powers in its sale and distribution of properties belonging to the state.
In response to questions about the handling of the Pradoville Two Housing Project, East Coast Demerara, in which former President Bharrat Jagdeo resides, Brassington insisted that all of the transactions were above board.

He noted that there were certain articles which guided the operations of NICIL and that those very articles were contained in the by-laws which “gives the company broad and sweeping powers to do practically anything under the sun.”
The witness told the court that the articles were not present in front of him so that he could refer to them properly.
“Those articles are not present here,” he said referring to documents which contained NICIL‘s by-laws.
Brassington had previously perused the documents but claimed that he could not be sure that they are complete.
Further, in answer to the questions by Hughes, Brassington noted that there were no restrictions on NICIL’s power to carry out its functions as a holder and distributor of Government shares.

Cabinet Sanctioned
In response to queries about the role of NICIL in the Pradoville Two housing project, in which several top officials benefitted before 2011, the witness said that: “I don’t have any of the documents in front of me but I know everything that was done was sanctioned by (the then) Cabinet and the board.”
Asked whether the funds from the government, diverted by NICIL for development of the project was expected to be repaid, Brassington said he could not recall.

At this point, Brassington’s lawyer, Timothy Jonas, objected to the line of questioning noting that his client cannot speak for actions of NICIL, but only represent what he did as CEO of the company.
The objection was taken into consideration and Hughes rephrased his question. This time, he asked Brassington about his role in the transaction as CEO of the company.

“Was any such agreement to repay the funds signed?” the lawyer asked
“I cannot recall,” Brassington said. The lawyer suggested to Brassington that he approved funds for the Pradoville Two project without the resolution of the board of NICIL.
Brassington rejected the suggestion. “That is absolutely untrue,” declared the witness.
He later noted that all the transactions were subject to approval of the Board, Cabinet and was even audited by the Auditor General.

“I don’t remember that I did anything that was improper or illegal. Everything I did was done on behalf of the board and not in my personal capacity,” he said.
Added to this, Brassington revealed that he was not the only officer of NICIL authorised to be a signatory on transactional documents.
“Other persons were authorised to sign in my absence,” he said. With regards to the sale of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), Brassington told the court as an officer NICIL, he was duty bound to act on behalf of the company in the sale.
According to Brassington, the sale of Government‘s shares in GTT raked in US$30M which was four times more than it could have secured elsewhere.

“But did you transfer the dividends to the government of Guyana?” Hughes questioned.
“Everything was done in keeping with the company’s Articles and by-laws.”
Hughes, however, interrupted, reminding the witness that the question was whether the dividends were transferred to the government.

Not Mandated
In response, the witness said that NICIL was not mandated to transfer anything to the government.
“We are not a post office…. There is nothing illegal or improper about that,” he said maintaining that the powers of NICIL were clear.
Meanwhile, the Kaieteur News’ Publisher in his testimony, agreed with the suggestion that ‘Dem Boys Seh’ articles are part news and part satire.

Asked by Jonas whether Brassington had ever requested a retraction of the article, Lall told the court that he did receive a letter. He said, too, that Brassington has never spoken to him about the retraction.
He admitted, too, that as publisher, most of the newspaper content is under his control.
The publisher also agreed with the suggestion that the newspaper takes on the role of exposing, what is perceived by him to be corrupt excesses by the Government of the day.

Lall also agreed that the Kaieteur News had the widest distribution countrywide and readership online.
“Have you are ever seen a signed resolution document belonging to NICIL?” Jonas queried
“No sir,” responded Lall.
“Have you seen the sale documents related to the sale of GTT?” continued, Jonas
“No sir, not other than what I have read,” Lall stated
“Have you seen any of the Berbice Bridge documents?”
“I can’t recall if I have seen those documents,” Lall responded.
He said, too, that he could not recall if he had any conversation with Christopher Ram about the documents.
Harris faced similar questions about his role in the newspaper given his work as the former Editor-in -Chief of the newspaper.
He, too, said that he could not recall seeing the documents.