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With Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George having ruled that Dr. Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington must face charges in the Magistrate’s Court for alleged misconduct in public office, the Alliance For Change (AFC) is looking to see what actions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack will take.
“A court has ordered that charges for land giveaways be continued in the Magistrate’s Court against Dr Ashni Singh and Winston Brassington, and I believe people will now be looking to see whether the DPP would want to step in, after the High Court said that there is enough evidence to proceed,…to discontinue the cases against them,” AFC Chairman, Raphael Trotman said during a virtual press conference on Friday.
Dr. Ashni Singh, who is currently serving as Minister with responsibility for Finance, and the former head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington were charged under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Administration over the reckless sale of state lands.
It is alleged that on December 28, 2009, by way of an agreement of sale and purchase, Dr Singh and Brassington sold the National Hardware Guyana Limited lands amounting to 103.88 acres, property of the state for the sum of $598, 659,398 without the property being evaluated by a competent officer.
A similar charge was made against them over the December 2008 sale of 4,700 acres of land at Liliendaal, ECD, to Scady Business Corporation for $150M, notwithstanding the fact that the property was valued at $340,000,000 by Rodrigues Architects Associate.
Dr. Singh’s lawyers had challenged the validity of the charges, resulting in the case in the Magistrate’s Court being adjourned, pending the decision of the High Court. The acting Chief Justice is said to have handed down her judgement a few days ago, paving the way for the cases to be heard in the Magistrate’s Court.
With similar charges now being put against Colvin Heath-London, former Head of NICIL under the APNU+AFC, and Attorney-at-Law, James Bond, and the return of Dr Singh, as Minister of Finance, Trotman said it will be interesting to see how the DPP treats with Dr. Singh’s case compare to that of Bond and Heath-London.
Approximately two months after the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took office, the DPP withdrew a charge against the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Anil Nandlall for the alleged theft of over $2 million in Commonwealth Law Reports from the State.
