Latest update May 10th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 14, 2010 News
… Directors, officers should be prosecuted – Murray
National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) is being accused of operating in violation of the Companies Act. Member of Parliament Winston Murray said, yesterday, that has been the case for several years now.
The company has not been filing its annual returns as is required under the Companies Act.
The law requires all companies to have annual audits, and to file an annual return with the companies section of the Deeds Registry.
The return must be accompanied by audited financial statements, and must contain information on the directors, the company secretary, and the shareholders.
Additionally, an annual report for NICIL, which is distinct from the annual return and audited accounts, must be submitted to the Finance Minister no later than six months after year-end.
The Finance Minister then has three months to lay these over in the National Assembly.
The company has not filed any annual return for more than ten years and no report and accounts have been laid in the National Assembly for the same period.
Non-compliance constitutes an offence for which the company and every director and officer, including the secretary, are liable.
Speaking with this newspaper yesterday, Murray, a lawyer and Shadow Finance Minister, said that the clear illegality has to be dealt with at the polls. This situation has been going on unabated for several years now, he added.
Murray said that the politicians can always try to seek the answers through a Parliamentary process by way of a motion or through formal questions in the House but he stressed that the Government holds a majority in the National Assembly and often decide to hide behind that majority.
Speaking to the fact that NICIL is in possession of hundreds of millions of dollars, which should be transferred to the Consolidated Fund, Murray said that this could be the subject of court action.
Murray said that any concerned citizen who benefits from the nation’s coffers has a standing in the matter and could file court action against NICIL seeking to have them conform to the laws of Guyana and place the money into the consolidated fund. Murray, explaining what he means by benefiting from the coffers, said that this money has to be spent on bettering the lives of Guyanese through the many services and development measures that the government must invest in on behalf of the people of Guyana.
Murray said that it all comes down to transparency and accountability on the part of the Government.
He was adamant that it would ultimately come down to have the government paying a high price at the polls. Murray is of the opinion that the government must be held accountable based on the various issues at hand and not the traditional manner with which elections has been done namely along ethnic lines.
The Shadow Finance Minister posited that the government must be made to account for its many errors over the years.
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