In a statement on Saturday the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), on behalf of about 400 rice farmers, expressed displeasure at the inaction of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) with regards to the Mahaicony Rice Limited (MRL) debt.
The statement further criticized what it said was the “unhelpful” position taken by the magistracy in respect of issues related to the matter. Since the first crop last year MRL has owed farmers more than $400 million for paddy supplied. Later, after an audit was ordered by the MoA, the company reportedly breached the Rice Factories Act by failing to hand over records to state officials for review.
MoA said: “The Rice Factories Act No. 8 of 1998 provides for the retrieval of MRL’s records for review. In this regard, therefore, the cooperation of MRL’s senior officers is paramount and integral to this objective.”
Efforts to establish the whereabouts of these senior personnel, MoA said, have been frustrated by the “dismal failure” of the GPF to locate MRL General Manager Taramattie Ghanie. Police, according to MoA, have been unable to locate accountant Ishwar Singh.
Following the breach of the Rice Factories Act an investigation had been conducted by police and the report forwarded to the Director of Public Prose-cutions (DPP). The DPP, according to the statement, had advised that Singh be charged for refusing a person, identified by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB), permission to inspect the books of the company.
Police in a press statement on January 11 had said that the matter was called at the Mahaicony Magistrate’s Court.
However, Singh was absent from court and an application was made for an arrest warrant to be issued for him.
The magistrate in the matter refused the application and had informed police that efforts should have been made to inform the accountant that he was expected to attend court.
Singh, according to MoA, is yet to attend court and “the legal process continues to be frustrated.”
The MoA statement continued: “The Ministry, on behalf of the affected rice farmers, calls on the owner of MRL Jai Beni to do the decent thing and pay the farmers who are owed close to US$2M for paddy purchased in the first crop of 2010…Other millers are also frustrated by this uncaring position of this company which is creating a negative stigma.
The Ministry, the statement continued, “wishes to remind both the Police Force, as the enforcement agency, and the Magistracy, as the adjudicating agency, that in matters related to the public interest greater attention, urgency and commitment must be employed.”