Embattled former Head of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) Joseph O’Lall is insisting that he didn’t mislead the Prime Minister in relation to fuel acquisitions for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) which went awry when Guyoil asked to be freed of GPL’s cargo to satisfy its PetroCaribe obligations.
According to O’Lall, President Bharrat Jagdeo – who levelled the accusations against him – had to have known of the fuel acquisition arrangements from the memo that Hinds sent and therefore shouldn’t be accusing him (O’Lall) of misleading Hinds.
The President’s accusation came during a meeting on November 15. Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon was there, so were then GPL Vice Chairman of GPL Winston Brassington and the Prime Minister.
O’Lall, who has indicated his intention to sue the Government over his sacking, said that the Prime Minister sanctioned and approved of all the arrangements for GPL, said that there is no case of his misleading the Prime Minister. O’Lall spoke of a memorandum sent from the Prime Minister to the President two days before he had been sent on leave in November. PM Hinds declined to comment when approached by Stabroek News yesterday. O’Lall was eventually sacked on December 31 for violating the rules governing PetroCaribe funds.
But he is maintaining that he did nothing wrong in creating a US dollar interest-bearing account as he was bringing in more money to the agency by being innovative. He believes that a case was trumped up against him to get rid of him.
With the mix-up in fuel arrangements, the correct specification of heavy fuel oil couldn’t be procured and this led to the power company reverting to the more expensive gasoil, or diesel, which cost the company additional millions per day.
The mix-up came about when Guyoil and GPL ended their relationship which had seen shipments for the power utility being brought on the ships chartered by Guyoil.
Because of the two companies’ arrangement, Guyoil wasn’t taking up its full quota of fuel purchases under the Venezuelan PetroCaribe agreement and the fund earmarked by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finance GPL’s interim thermal plant was only accruing at one third of the projected rate at which Shell/Sol and Texaco were taking fuel from Venezuelan oil company PDVSA.
Guyoil, which had 50 per cent of the Guyana market, was not taking its full allotment from PetroCaribe. The company had said that it would not have been economical for it to do so unless it was freed of shipping for GPL.
Writing to President Jagdeo on November 14, 2007, the Prime Minister said: “Towards the end of September when commitments to (Venezuelan oil company) PDVSA for October were being reviewed, I, P.M., said let Guyoil and GPL be separated from November 1 when Guyoil will start taking fuel from PDVSA; GPL would have made their own arrangements with BK International and With Staatsolie …”
Hinds’ memorandum had been copied to then Chairman of GPL Ronald Alli, CEO of GPL Bharrat Dindyal, Dr Keshav Mangal, Badrie Persaud and to O’Lall himself. It was this changed arrangement which led to the fuel crisis late last year and for which O’Lall was sent on leave. Alli was also removed from GPL by the President for under reporting the losses and liabilities of the company.
The Prime Minister said in the November 14 memo that he took the responsibility for the President approving any waiver requirement for GPL to conclude a sole source freight contract with BK International and a fuel purchase contract with Suriname oil company Staatsolie.
“There was no question in my mind that GPL could successfully conclude the necessary arrangements and I was surprised when at the beginning of November GPL was reporting that the BK ship was not being accepted by Petrotrin and Staatsolie was not yet in a position to supply fuel to GPL,” Hinds said in the memorandum to the President. Yesterday this reporter visited the Office of the Prime Minister and requested to speak to Prime Minister Hinds. After his secretary took this newspaper’s concerns to Hinds, she came out some minutes later saying that the Hinds wouldn’t comment on any issue regarding O’Lall. O’Lall has told this newspaper on many occasions that it was because of his contacts and standing with oil companies that the GPL was able to acquire fuel for the continuation of the utility’s operations in the wake of shortages when the BK chartered vessel was refused docking in Trinidad because of its not meeting certain mandatory safety requirements.
