As conflicting information circulates about the location of the outstanding US$5 million for the sale of government shares in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), President David Granger is adamant that former president Donald Ramotar is the one to provide answers.
“You have to ask Mr Ramotar where the money is,” he said during a recording of “The Public Interest” last Friday. “I don’t know where it is. I would like to find out but the money went missing under the previous administration and it is certainly missing and that is what Mr Harmon’s mission was all about. We are trying to find out ourselves,” he stressed when asked about the money.
It was Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman who had disclosed during a post-Cabinet press briefing last month that the money had been collected. He said State Minister Joseph Harmon had obtained documents which showed that the US$5 million was paid over prior to the APNU+AFC coalition taking office and efforts were underway to track the money. “So, we are trying to track down to whom, how and where,” he had told reporters.
Trotman made the disclosure after being asked about Harmon’s controversial trip to China.
The Ministry of the Presidency, in a statement on April 1, had said that Harmon’s trip to China was for the purpose of engaging in discussions with regard to the payment of the US$5 million balance owed to the government for the purchase of 20% of GTT shares by Chinese company Datang Telecom Technology and Industry Group from National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) in 2012. This deal was entered into by the PPP/C administration but only US$25 million of the agreed US$30 million was known to have been paid.
Both Ramotar and the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) said publicly that they knew nothing about the whereabouts of the money.
Ramotar, who was first to respond, said, “The claim by the APNU+AFC Gov’t that the money was received is a lie and I challenge the government to present the documents it has received (under suspicious and questionable circumstances) so that the veracity of the evidence can be tested and authenticated.
“I am very suspicious about the timing and sudden claim that the US$5 million owed for GT&T share[s] was paid to entities/persons other than NICIL.” Ramotar’s statement added that the sale of the shares was executed between NICIL and Hong Kong Golden Telecom Limited for the total price of US$30 million.
He said it was never hidden that US$25 million was received and that the purchaser was given two years to pay the balance, while noting that it was also publicly disclosed by NICIL that efforts were being made to pursue legal recourse in the UK to collect the outstanding balance.
Ramotar added that any claim that money was paid would not be hard to prove, noting too that government’s insinuation that the money was paid to someone else or some other entity than NICIL prior to the May, 2015 elections is a distraction from the real issue.
On April 28, NICIL released a statement which said that it had not received the outstanding balance.
After outlining the agreement that had been made with respect to how the money was to be paid, NICIL said that on November 8, 2012, US$25 million was wired to NICIL’s US$ account held at Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited. The balance of US$5 million became due and payable to NICIL on October 22, 2014.
“Despite several written requests by NICIL, HKGT has still failed to pay the balance of the purchase price,” the release said adding that NICIL in an attempt to bypass the court which would be costly and time-consuming, approached the Guyana government for help in encouraging the payment of the outstanding balance through diplomatic channels.
“To NICIL’s knowledge, neither HKGT nor its related companies have alleged that the balance of US$5 million was paid. What was alleged by the purchaser’s signatory to the agreement was that following a series of communications with the former Guyana Ambassador to China (to be authenticated) HKGT was assured that they were not required to pay the balance of US$5 million, because the HKGT had not been granted the same minority protection rights enjoyed by NICIL (i.e. two, instead of one, representatives on the GT&T Board of Directors) which HKGT alleged were promised to them. HKGT also alleged that the decision to waive the US$5 million was contained in a side agreement,” NICIL said.
HKGT’s claim of waiver is yet to be verified and NICIL has since asked the Guyana government to assist in this regard.
