General Manager of the Guyana Gold Board, Anantram Balram has denied that he instructed former manager of the Board’s Bartica Office, George Gomes to randomly test gold being purchased, thereby breaching procedure.
Gomes was sacked over two weeks ago for not adhering to procedures in determining the purity of gold when purchasing the mineral. Chairman of the Board Rishi Sookram had explained that it was a requirement that gold be “sampled” before being purchased to determine its purity. All the gold being purchased must be tested before it was accepted. He said that in this case, this procedure was not followed. However, he had noted that “nothing was paid out that should not have been paid out.”
Gomes has alleged that Balram had called and instructed him to carry out the “random sampling.” He said that they were required to deposit the gold at a Bartica bank by a certain time. “It would seem as if it is being used as a time saving measure,” he said. Sookram had told this newspaper that after being informed of what was happening at the Bartica office late last year, the Board launched an investigation.
Balram, when contacted, said that he wished to make it “categorically clear” that he did not give that instruction. He said that Gomes went “over his head” and breached procedure.
