Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman says he regrets that government did not share the details of the US$18 million signing bonus it received from ExxonMobil with Guyana’s citizenry earlier and trusts that they understand the national security imperatives associated with its planned use.
“Insofar as regrets, I do believe we could have trusted the populace some more to understand the national security imperatives that we believed to be clear and present and requiring of a response insofar as the US$18 million goes and the overall relationship with ExxonMobil,” Trotman told this newspaper in recent interview.
“To this end, we could have shared the details much earlier,” he added.
After months of silence on if a bonus was paid, the APNU+AFC government only admitted in December, 2017, following newspaper publications of a letter confirming a request for the setting up of an account at the Bank of Guyana (BoG), that it had collected the funds.
