Accountability
Exxon distances self from inflated declaration: ExxonMobil lats week distanced itself from the huge inflation of an invoice detected by the GRA and pointed to its former broker which it did not name and both are set to appear in court next week over the matter. Stabroek News on April 25th reported on the massive inflation of the invoice from an estimated US$4.4m to US$12.1b. In a brief statement yesterday, the company said: “ExxonMobil Guyana (EMGL) became aware of a clerical error in a Customs declaration filed by our former broker in 2023 from an investigation initiated by the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). EMGL did not compose the erroneous declaration, nor were we aware of this clerical error when the declaration was filed. EMGL is cooperating fully with the GRA in its investigation of this matter”. The broker in question is Ramps Logistics Guyana Inc (RLGI). ExxonMobil has written to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to put itself in the clear. Its controller, William A Thompson wrote to Deputy Commissioner, Jason Moore on April 16 stating that EMGL was not the declarant and had not made any false declaration. In the correspondence seen by Stabroek News, Thompson said the declaration was made by RLGI “as borne out by the information in column 14 of the prescribed customs declaration form” provided by the GRA. He added that EMGL has not made or caused to be made any false declaration. “Any error made by RLGI was a typographical error which did not inure to the detriment of or cause any loss” to the GRA. Ramps in its defence has said that the declaration was prepared based on information provided by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited through its KABAL System. Addressing that contention, Thompson “To the best of EMGL’s knowledge, all information that was available to RLGI from the KABAL platform was accurate and any error was not caused by EMGL”. Under its contract with EMGL, Thompson said that RLGI had an obligation to review and verify all inbound shipping documentation such as bills of lading and packing lists etc and ensure that all such documentation was accurate and correct and met the country’s customs re quirements.
Opposition calls for probe of NPTAB, procurement system: The opposition APNU+AFC on April 24th called for a probe of the national tender board and the procurement system in the wake of the scandalous award of the Belle Vue Pump Station contract to Tepui Inc. In a statement, it said that the findings of the Public Procurement Com-mission (PPC) on the Tepui contract for the construction of the Belle Vue pump station have outraged Guyanese across the political spectrum. “We, in the Opposition, firmly believe that the Tepui contract scandal is only the tip of a large iceberg. Indeed, NPTAB was barefaced enough to inform the PPC that it awarded similar pump station contracts to others who also did not have the experience and prerequisites. We are convinced that breaches of the procurement laws and the award of contracts to the friends, families and favorites of the PPP government occur regularly and are in the tens of billions of dollars.
“We, therefore, believe that calls for only a criminal investigation of the Evaluation Committee for the Tepui contract or the revocation of the contract fail to recognise the magnitude of the mismanagement, corruption, and political interference in the contract award system under the PPP. Nothing short of radical overhaul and total cleansing is needed. Guyanese must note that the government’s entire capital budget is processed through the public procurement system. We are dealing with hundreds of billions of dollars annually. In 2023, the capital budget was G$388B. In 2024, it is a galloping $666B, approximately 58% of the entire national budget”, the opposition said. It noted that the award of government contracts was a “Herdmanston issue.” – meaning that in the aftermath of the 1997 election and public protests, the award of contracts was explicitly identified by all stakeholders as a matter of central importance for race relations, social justice, and equal opportunity in Guyana. It added that the 1999 Constitution Reform Com-mission (CRC) agreed, therefore, to establish the Public Procurement Com-mission as a body with constitutional powers to address this national problem. The opposition charged that the PPP/C, during its previous term in office, thwarted both the establishment and the functioning of the procurement commission.
PPC took eight months to throw out complaint by R Kissoon over D&I pumps bid: It took eight months for the PPC to throw out a complaint by R Kissoon Contracting Services over a bid for D&I pumps but more irregularities have surfaced in the tendering system including errors by the evaluation committee and the signing of the disputed contract on January 1st 2023, a national holiday. R Kissoon complained to the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) on January 24, 2023 that its bids for the maintenance and servicing of drainage and irrigation pumps were unsuccessful even though they were the lowest for two lots and met all of the requirements. It said to the PPC that it had lodged a complaint with the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) but had gotten no response within the statutory period. The Procurement Act requires the lodging of a bid protest with the procuring entity, in this case the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and not the NPTAB. In its Summary of Findings adopted on February 29th this year, the PPC said it nevertheless decided to investigate the matter given its wide constitutional mandate. The PPC’s Summary of Findings is replete with instances where both the NPTAB and the NDIA ignored requests for crucial clarifying information. The PPC discovered based on the documents submitted to it that the Evaluation Committee of the NPTAB said R Kissoon was non-responsive on three of the criteria and its bids were therefore thrown out. However, the PPC found that R Kissoon could possibly only have been deemed non responsive in relation to one guideline and had actually complied with the other two. This discovery will raise further questions about the arbitrary conduct of the evaluation committees of the NPTAB and how certain contractors could be favoured over others. In a recent controversial case, despite having failed several guidelines, including the requirement to have previously built a pump station, the evaluation committee admitted the bid of Tepui Inc as responsive. Tepui was later awarded the contract and this has triggered a major controversy. The PPC found that the complainant was deemed non-responsive by the Evaluation Committee for failing to satisfy three of the Evaluation Criteria – financial and technical, particularly – Criteria #9: Evidence of financial capacity representing (25%) for each individual lot. The bidder must provide a bank statement or line of credit from a bank or a recognized financial institution. The document must be dated within one month of the bid opening date and be clearly legible. Included in the record of the tender proceedings submitted by the NPTAB to the commission, was a Statement from Republic Bank (Triumph Branch) evidencing a bank account balance of the complainant in the sum of $40,957,648. The statement was dated December 16th, 2022, that is, within one month of the bid opening on December 20th, 2022 as required.
AFC calls for gov’t nominees on PPC to step down over Tepui decision: The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Friday called for the resignation of the government nominees on the procurement commission over their failure to sanction a pump station contract to Tepui Inc and it also called for a restructuring of the national tender board. The award of the Belle Vue pump station contract to Tepui Inc despite the fact that it had no construction experience with such a project has led to denunciations and the decision of the Public Procurement Commission (PPC) on Tuesday not to take decisive action to end the contract has raised serious concerns. In its defence, the PPC in its Summary of Findings said that it has no powers to terminate a contract that has already been concluded. During his party’s media conference held virtually, AFC Leader Khemraj Ramjattan lashed out at the government-appointed commissioners over the $865 million contract. “The AFC regards the recent majority recommendation of the PPC, after the complaint by its Executive member and Parliamen-tarian Mr David Patterson, as shamelessly objectionable, unfair and yet another knockdown of a guardrail of our fragile democracy”, he declared. He told the press that all five Commissioners agreed that Tepui had failed on the evaluation criteria. “Tepui’s bid failed grievously on every evaluation criteria as found unanimously by 5 Com-missioners”, the AFC Leader stated. Ramjattan said that his party when examining the PPC’s Summary of Findings found it amazing that a bid which did not meet any of the evaluation criteria could have been passed by the Evaluation Committee at the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and given a no-objection by Cabinet. The party’s leader said “The AFC does not know the names of the members of the Evaluation Commit-tee. However, their names must not be an official secret. The public has a right to know who they are. The AFC is aware that the head of NPTAB is Mr. Tarachand Balgobin, who has a senior advisory role at the Ministry of Finance as Deputy National Authorising Officer and head of its Public Invest-ment Unit. A conflict of interest is most noticeable here. Also, it is well known that Tepui’s owner (Mikhail Rodrigues) is a close friend of Vice President Jagdeo. There is an undoubted conflict of interests and relationships here that mattered more than the merits of the Tepui bid”. Ramjattan disclosed that the Summary of Findings approved by the PPC was not unanimous. The PPC comprises three commissioner nominated by the government and two by the opposition.
Contracts
Contractor misses latest deadline for completion of Bamia Primary: Completion of the Bamia Primary School has missed another deadline and Region 10 Chairman Deron Adams yesterday again expressed his dissatisfaction at the delay in finishing the building. After being controversially awarded to entertainers and football promoters in November 2021, the construction was supposed to have been completed in July 2023. This was pushed back to November 2023 and when pressed during the budget debate this year, Minister of Local Government, Sonia Parag said it would be completed on April 1st, 2024. It has still not been completed and is said to be at around 75% complete. Adams when contacted on April 25tth said that the project which was heavily criticized for its deficiencies encountered several setbacks as windows and electrical wires were not installed. He said that as far he knows the Regional Exe-cutive Officer Dwight John had written to the Ministry of Finance requesting an extension on the project and was awaiting approval. The government has recently said it would be applying liquidated damages and terminating projects that are long overdue. It has said nothing about this contract which was awarded to St8ment Investment Inc whose football and entertainment principals are seen as close to the government. The Regional Chairman yesterday reiterated the dire need for the school to be completed as soon as possible. He told Stabroek News that while the government in several cases terminated the contracts of companies which failed to complete works on capital projects on time and resorted to re-tendering as should be the case for the Bamia Primary School, if this is done it could be an additional setback for the community. Since over 800 children are likely to benefit from the completion of the school, the Regional Chair-man is adamant that the construction which is currently at 75 per cent should be expedited.
Business
DEMTOCO announces after-tax profit of $2.27 billion: The Demerara Tobacco Company Limited (DEMTOCO) has announced an after-tax profit of $2.27 billion for 2023 while noting a “significant” rise in cigarette smuggling which it estimates could cost the local economy some $1 billion annually. This disclosure was made on April 25th at the company’s 90th Annual General Meeting (AGM) which was held at the Marriott Hotel in Kings-ton, Georgetown, where it shared its 2023 results and strategic achievements under the leadership of Managing Director, Vijay Singh, a DEMTOCO release disclosed. The company reported a 9.7% increase in After Tax Profit, climbing from $2.07 billion in 2022 to $2.27 billion in 2023. This growth, it stated, has been supported by a 4.4% increase in revenue which is driven by enhanced operating efficiencies. These results however, were achieved amidst a challenging global environment characterised by logistical disruptions, inflationary pressures, and international political tensions, which DEMTOCO successfully navigated in order to deliver significant value to its shareholders.
Singh in his remarks at the AGM, highlighted the company’s strategic focus on strengthening its portfolio of international brands. “Our premium brand Dunhill, has once again shown outstanding performance, with a growth of 9.5% for the third consecutive year. This is a testament to our commitment to innovation and providing a premium experience to our consumers.” He also pointed out that the migration of the Bristol brand to the globally recognized Lucky Strike, has positioned DEMTOCO to leverage brand strength and drive future growth.
Health
Region Six has recorded 440 dengue cases for this year: Region Six has so far recorded 440 dengue cases for the year with eleven in the last twenty-four hours and a 15-year-old is hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital. Yesterday, the region’s information officer confirmed the figures. Following the deaths of two children at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital and three in total within the region, parents in Canje have expressed concerns about taking their children to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital despite them testing positive for dengue. According to one parent who asked to remain anonymous, both of her children had developed fevers, however, after the reports of the passing of the two primary school girls at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital she decided to take her children to a private lab in New Amsterdam where they both tested positive for dengue fever. The woman said that she is scared to take her children to the hospital and has opted to give them natural remedies in hopes of curing them. She stressed that she is keeping a close eye on them and if the need arises she will take them to a private institution. Further, two other parents within the Canje area have told Stabroek News that their children are experiencing fever symptoms as well, however, they are scared to take them to the New Amster-dam Hospital given the current situation in the region. Since last week Stabroek News has been trying to schedule an interview with Region Six Chairman, David Armogan on the dengue situation within the region to no avail. Surprisingly, yesterday morning this newspaper was sent a recording from the region’s information officer with an interview from the chairman to which only one local reporter was invited. In that recording, Armogan said that there has been an increase in dengue cases within the region as he pointed out that there has been a mosquito infestation throughout the region. “In every place basically, so what we are doing we are intensifying the fogging exercise we have started”, he said.
Crime
Sophia labourer killed by men who attempted to rob him of bike: A 23-year-old Sophia labourer was fatally shot last Sunday night after he resisted the efforts of two men to rob him of his motorcycle in front of his home. One of the men was apprehended minutes later by public-spirited citizens and the motorcycle was recovered. Dead is Alwin Griffith of Lot 632 ‘A’ Field, South Sophia. The young man’s sister, Lincy Wilson, told Stabroek News that nothing was taken from her brother but his newly purchased motorcycle, which the bandits were after. According to the police, on Sunday at around 21:30 hours, Griffith was sitting on his black CB1 motorcycle, CM3560, in front of his home when two males approached him, one of whom pointed a handgun at him and tried to take away his motorcycle. A scuffle ensued, and the suspect who had the handgun discharged a round that hit Griffith to the right side of his upper chest. Griffith ran off a short distance and collapsed on the roadway while the suspects attempted to mount Griffith’s motorcycle, but an alarm was raised by residents in the area who went to the victim’s assistance. The suspects then ran in an attempt to escape, but the residents gave chase and managed to apprehend one of them, who was subsequently identified as a 19-year-old Campbell Street, Albouystown, Georgetown resident. The victim was then rushed to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) by residents but was pronounced dead on arrival. The police said that the suspect, who was beaten by residents, was also taken to the GPH in an unconscious state. He is presently receiving medical attention under police guard, while the body of the deceased is currently at the GPH mortuary awaiting a post-mortem examination. Stabroek News visited the scene and a resident who witnessed the incident recalled that on Sunday night he was about to leave his yard when he saw the two men come out of a street, cross the bridge that leads to his street, and walk up to Griffith and order, “Pass it!”. One then shot him at close range. The resident recalled that the men then jumped on Griffith’s motorcycle and were about to escape, but the motorcycle’s engine cut out and the men ran over the bridge to escape.
Mining
Reunion, G Mining Ventures in deal for Region Seven gold mine: Reunion Gold Corporation (RGD) of Canada and G Mining Ventures (GMIN) have struck a deal for gold mining in Oko West in Region Seven. The deal will see participation from several leading figures from the former Omai Gold Mines Limited (OGML) which extracted the precious metal over a number of years at its mine site near the Omai Creek. A press release yesterday from the two companies said that through the transaction, GMIN will acquire RGD’s flagship Oko West Project in the Cuyuni/Mazaruni, described as one of the most attractive mining jurisdictions on the continent. “Oko West has emerged as a globally significant gold discovery over the last few years, with excellent potential to become a top tier deposit that could support a large, long-life mine complex to accelerate GMIN’s vision of building a leading intermediate gold producer. The GMIN team, including through the Gignac Family-owned G Mining Services (GMS), has an impressive track-record of executing world-class projects in the Guiana Shield region to generate industry leading returns for its stakeholders”, the release said. GMS has among its principals, Louis Gignac, who was the head of Cambior Inc, the major shareholder in OGML. The release said that GMIN plans to move Oko West rapidly through technical studies to a construction decision, utilizing the considerable amount of exploration, development, and permitting work that has already been completed by RGD, supported by the expected free cash flow from the Tocantinzinho Gold Project in Para in Brazil which is trending on schedule and on budget for commercial production in the second half of 2024. Under the terms of the Agreement, the release said that GMIN and RGD shareholders will receive common shares of a newly formed company (the New GMIN) equivalent to RGD shareholders being issued 0.285 GMIN common shares for each RGD common share. In addition, RGD shareholders will receive common shares in a newly created gold explorer (SpinCo) that will hold all of RGD’s assets other than Oko West. GMIN has agreed to fund SpinCo with CAD$15 million. RGD shareholders will receive estimated consideration of CAD$0.65 per RGD common share, an estimated Transaction equity value of CAD$875 million, based on the closing price of GMIN common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) on April 19, 2024, excluding the value of the SpinCo consideration. The release said that this represents a premium of 29% based on GMIN’s and RGD’s closing price and 10-day volume-weighted average price on the TSX and TSX Venture Exchange as at April 19, 2024, respectively, without accounting for value of SpinCo.
Vending
No vendor being moved from seawall but everybody has to comply with rules – Edghill: Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill last week met with vendors who ply their trade along the seawall between Camp Road and Vlissengen Road and he told them that those with a permit will continue to vend as long as they are in compliance with the vending agreement. The meeting which was scheduled to begin at 2 pm got underway at 3:50 pm. When the minister arrived he apologized for his lateness as he had been on a flight. He immediately began to inform the vendors of the plans in place for the seawall. He said “every person who would have received a permit from the sea defence board to vend on the seawall will continue, “contrary to the misinformation that was being peddled by a few sources, everyone that has a licence that is in compliance with the “mobile rule” will remain, he declared. “What we are doing is that everybody that got a licence…Your licence or letter of permit told you the conditions under which you must vend”, he said. The minister questioned the vendors on the conditions to which he then answered “no permanent structures and number two your vending space should be no more than a hundred square feet”. He then reminded the vendors that they should be fifteen feet away from the edge of the road along and are required to clean up after they have finished selling. They must also ensure that their structures are “aesthetically pleasing”. Edghill said that persons started vending in undesignated areas and as such they were cleared “because of what was transpiring we could not have allowed it”. He continued “you would have seen concrete structures remaining after we would have moved those persons”. The minister explained that those persons who were vending in that area were told that arrangements were being made to have them fit in so that they would be able to remain in business, however he reminded the vendors that they need to reasonable and rational “this is a sea and river defence reserve, at any time something can happen and we need access”. On the latrines issue he told the vendors that the sea and river defence board (SRDB) removed “20 pit latrines”. This resulted in the vendors challenging Edghill’s statement.
Crime
East Ruimveldt man stabbed to death during scuffle: Detectives in Regional Division 4’A’ are investigating the murder of 52-year-old Shawn George of Vlissengen Square, East Ruimveldt, Georgetown. The police on Wednesday night last said that the man was stabbed during an altercation with another man, a 34-year-old resident of West Ruimveldt around 5 pm in front of a shop located at Vlissengen Square. Inquiries revealed that the victim was at the shop sitting on a bench, when the assailant rode past on a motorcycle and verbally abused him. George shouted back at the suspect, telling him that he (the suspect) should repeat the insult to his face. The assailant stopped, came off the motorcycle, and approached George, after which a scuffle ensued. During the scuffle, the two men ended up in a drain, the assailant then pulled a knife from his pants waist and dealt George four stabs: one to his left forearm and three to the left side of his abdomen. After stabbing the victim, the 34-year-old assailant escaped on his motorcycle in a northern direction, leaving the wounded victim in the drain. George was subsequently picked up and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where he died whilst receiving treatment. The matter was reported to the police and the scene later processed by ‘Crime Scene’ ranks. The murder weapon was retrieved at the scene. The assailant is currently being sought by the police.
