Former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (ag) of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Colvin Heath-London has been released from the Brickdam Police Station after almost 72 hours of detention for the offence of alleged conspiracy to defraud. He was released on $200,000 station bail on Monday morning.
Heath-London was called in for questioning on November 20, 2020 in relation to alleged illegal land transactions at the company. He immediately arrested and denied bail though such was requested on at least two occasions. The core issue has to do will whether sub-letting was permitted by the NICIL Board.
Heath-London has provided investigating ranks with electronic copies of NICIL’s Board minutes and records for January 2018 which showed that NICIL’s former and late CEO, Horace James, in conjunction with the Board, had decided that lease transactions should be amended to facilitate sub-letting to create a more competitive platform.
Subsequently, the current leadership of NICIL claimed that the documents provided by Heath-London were not authentic. However, the former CEO (ag) countered this with additional proof that NICIL was fully aware of the sub-letting agreements.
The information provided included an invoice issued by NICIL for rent addressed to Jianfen Yu (sub-lessee) for the rental of plots A 17, A 18 and A 19 for 2020. It also included the receipt issued by NICIL to Jianfen Yu for the payment of the rental by the Sub-lessee for the aforementioned properties. Both documents bear the logo of NICIL while the invoice was prepared and signed by Account Receivable Clerk, Wenston Mingo and reviewed, checked and signed by Finance Controller, Geary Reid.
Prior to being release, Heath-London was interrogated from 08:30 to 18:30 hours on November 20. The next day, Saturday, November 21, the clothing and personal items belonging to Heath-London, which had been lodged in the presence of his lawyer the night before, had mysteriously disappeared. That day, he underwent further questioning and about leases.
Heath-London has denied the accusations leveled which originated from an announcement of the Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall that, based on independent legal advice, he would bring civil proceedings to recover several parcels of land issued under the APNU+AFC Administration.
