NICA 2

NICA 2. The National Investment Company of Anguilla Ltd is a scandal. It is a public scandal. It was floated by the National Bank of Anguilla as a vehicle to persuade Anguillians to invest their savings to make them grow. It raised five million dollars from the public based on a prospectus to this effect. This was about twenty years ago. The company has never declared a profit, and has never paid a dividend. George Kentish was the first and longest-serving Chairman. He was followed by Cecil Niles, who served for only a short time. The current Chairman is Calvert Carty. Certified public accountant Marva Thompson is the present Company Secretary.

Bob Rogers called me to visit him at home on Thursday. His sight is not as good as it used to be. He is not able to get out. He is very concerned about NICA and what the present Board of Directors is doing. He was very upset when I told him that the company has been struck off the Register for non-payment of its annual filings. It will now cost $1,500.00 to put back on the Register, according to Lanston Connor, the Registrar of Companies. That does not include the filing fees for the Annual Returns of shareholders and directors missing since the year 2004. The company is in default of filing the 2005 and 2006 Returns, for which it has been struck off, and the 2007 Return will be due in a few weeks. All its assets are now vested in the Crown as bona vacantia, or property without an owner. Technically, the company does not exist.

Mr Rogers gave me a copy of the 2003 Final Report of Avondale M Thomas, the Inspector appointed by the Court in suit No HCV 2003/0029. He tells me that it will make interesting reading. He tells me that he does not understand why no one has gone to jail as a result of it. We shall look at it. It is a court document. It is filed in the Registry. It is a public document, not a private one. I shall post bits of it on this Blog over the next few days. I shall comment on it as we go. I shall give you my views on how the members of the Board have discharged their duty to the company and its shareholders. I want to hear from you what you think of it.

In the meantime, can a member of the Board of Directors please go down to the Registry of Companies, and put the company back on the Register. Do not forget to file the Returns showing how you called annual shareholders’ meetings to have yourselves re-elected each year!