Dear Editor,
In her letter captioned “Some of Guyana’s timber is now gaining international recognition”, (06.12.30). Ms Samantha Griffith refers to “my previous letter published in the Guyana Chronicle on December 21”. Unfortunately no letter by Samantha Griffith was published in the Guyana Chronicle on December 21; only one by Vivek Persaud in response to Mahadeo Kowlessar’s charge of transfer pricing on logs shipped from Guyana to China. Will the real Vivek Persaud / Samantha Griffith please stand up?
What concerns me, however, is the substantive matter of transfer pricing; not the pseudonyms used by Vivek Persaud / Samantha Griffith. I look forward to the GFC / GRA / Government of Guyana announcing the launch of an independent investigation of transfer pricing in log exports from Guyana, carried out by a reputable expert in the field (also suggested by an anonymous writer in Stabroek News December 12). Through your newspaper, may I repeat my request of December 27 to the Commissioner of Forests for information on the name of the timber exporter(s) with cargo on the ship “Rong Cheng”, what timber species / volumes / values of logs were being exported, and the names of the consignees. Minister Robert Persaud at his press conference on December 8 urged stakeholders to use “correct information” and assured that the Guyana Forestry Commission would provide same. Why is the Commissioner not complying with this assurance ?
The widely distributed CD of consultants’ reports prepared during the UK-funded GFC Support Project includes one on forest revenue systems in Guyana (1996). Section 3.24, page 26, of that report stated “The GFC ability to block or delay exports is the subject of bitter complaint by the forest products industry. The GFC claims that the veto is necessary to discourage transfer pricing”. So this pricing is not a new issue for Guyana.
Considering the pressures on government finance (support to complete the construction of Buddy’s Hotel, unbudgeted costs of holding a general election), the sums of money potentially involved in transfer pricing of timber logs are so large as surely to attract the scrutiny of the Minister of Finance?
Yours faithfully,
Patrick Jackson
