NICIL rejects Guyana Times misleading article

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, June 23, 2020.

The National Industrial Commercial and Investments Limited (NICIL) this afternoon rejected what it said are “insinuations and aspersions” contained in an online post by the Guyana Times newspaper today.

The article claimed that the government through Finance Minister Winston Jordan transferred lands to persons.

NICIL slammed the post as “misleading” since the Minister of Finance had no involvement in the selection of the investors, has not been a member of the NICIL Board nor is he involved in the day to day business of NICIL or the Special Project Unit.

In a release issued today, NICIL reminded that the public through the SPU sold lands that were vested to it by the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana.

“NICIL received deposits for the lands commencing December 2019, however, the transactions remained incomplete since the vesting orders were not ‘Signed and Gazetted’ as required by law and this meant that the remaining sums could not be paid over by the investors,” the entity explained.

It said following GUYSUCO’s recent request to the Government for a bailout, NICIL was approached to assist the company.

“By now, the public must be aware that a $30 Billion bond backed by NICIL’s assets and guaranteed by the Government of Guyana was secured through NICIL to retrofit and revitalise GUYSUCO.  We wish to remind too, that from July 2018 to February 2020, NICIL has disbursed $9,720,759,568 to GUYSUCO to fund its Capital and Operational Expenditure. ”

The entity said it is common knowledge that GUYSUCO and the bondholders were in the process of ironing out some matters so that further disbursements could be had. But NICIL, having recognized the urgency of the request, sought to complete the land transactions.  It, therefore, became necessary to regularise the Vesting Orders.

“We hope that right-thinking citizens will see that the Government and NICIL are committed to safeguarding the livelihood of the sugar workers and the industry,” the statement noted.