Special Assistant at the State Assets Recovery Agency (SARA), Eric Phillips on Wednesday tendered his resignation after being officially informed that his private activities amounted to a “serious conflict of interest”, which, if ignored could have adverse effects on the organisation’s work.
This disclosure was made to Stabroek News yesterday in an exclusive interview by SARA Director, Professor Clive Thomas, who used the opportunity to repeatedly state that he was unaware that Phillips was part of a company which had applied for an offshore oil block in 2016. The application was not granted.
Concerns about a conflict of interest were raised after it was made public that Phillips, who on behalf of SARA was investigating the questionable award of oil blocks licences by the former PPP/C administration shortly before the 2015 general elections, was the Director of the African Business Round-table (ABR), the company in question. ABR’s oil and gas affiliate had applied for the block.
