Property Protection Services not defunct

Dear Editor,

Your article titled ‘City Hall to pursue owners of defunct business for debts’ published in your Tuesday, March 7, 2017 edition refers.

Your article as captioned above sought to convey the impression that Property Protection Services Ltd (PPS) was a defunct business. PPS is one of the oldest security companies in Guyana, founded in 1969 by the former Retired Deputy Commissioner Nemuel Sobers. Over the years the company has grown from strength to strength and has a well-earned reputation for providing quality security services.

The article seeks to cast a negative cloud by giving your readers the impression that PPS does not exist any more, and if it did, it was not paying its bills. As if to compound this, the article went ahead and published a prominent photograph of our building. To this end, we have painfully received several telephone calls making enquiries and expressing shock at our apparent difficulties.

Contrary to the image painted by your article, PPS remains in business, continues to honour its financial obligations to both the Guyana Revenue Authority and the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies, among others.

The shareholders and management of PPS sought to have your publication correct the false image which was created as a result of including us as part of the defunct list by supplying the facts (to your reporter) which caused City Hall to allegedly list us as being indebted to them.

In October 2007, the company entered into an agreement to sell the building, with the purchaser specifically responsible for all subsequent general rates and taxes on the building. Unfortunately, the purchaser left the country. Upon his subsequent return, he made representation to the M&CC’s finance committee to have the indebtedness liquidated on agreed terms. We were all surprised when we saw your publication.

We now respectfully request that your newspaper give our letter prominence to that given the original article.

Yours faithfully,

Colin Sawh

Director

Editor’s note

The Stabroek News report in question did not state that Property Protection Services Ltd was defunct. We reported PRO Debra Lewis of City Hall as telling us that the City Council was moving to initiate legal action against a group of businesses which were tax defaulters, and that this list included PPS. We went on to say that some of the entities listed were no longer in operation, although PPS was not cited in this regard. At a later point in the story we reported that the PPS building was closed when we went there to try and speak to someone from the company for a comment.

Mr Sawh did try unsuccessfully to contact our reporter after the report appeared, but the impression gained from the reporter to whom he did eventually speak, was that he did not have a problem with what had been printed.