Surendra Engineering Company Limited (SECL) yesterday rejected charges of fraud as baseless, while accusing the Donald Ramotar administration of seeking to back out of its commitments to the US$18M specialty hospital project after being responsible for the stoppage of work.
Addressing the announcement by the government of its intention to terminate the hospital project contract and pursue legal action to recover public funds paid over to the company, SECL’s Manag-ing Director Brijen Parikh in a statement yesterday also said the company is entitled to recover several million US dollars from the government for the work done at the site so far.
On Tuesday, the administration revealed that since late June of this year it has been engaging SECL on a number of issues relating to allegations of fraud and financial irregularities.
“Initially, the Govern-ment’s concerns related to delayed milestones and inadequate accountability by SECL for public funds the company had received on signing the contract with the Ministry of Health,” it said in a statement.
“Subsequently, the Government of Guyana discovered that SECL’s representative in Guyana had submitted a fraudulent document purporting to emanate from the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago,” it added, while noting that the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago had since confirmed the fraud and this prompted its decision to write the company and inform it of its intended action.
But yesterday Parikh denied the claims of fraud, while saying that the company strongly rejected the allegations made in the letter from the Office of the President (OP). “SECL is not aware of the document and has not provided any such document as referred to in the reports in respect of Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago. We hereby reiterate that all such allegations of fraud or financial irregularities are completely baseless and without any merit,” he said.
Parikh further said that while that the company will be consulting its lawyers to determine SECL’s future course of any legal action against the Government of Guyana.
“…We trust that the Government of. Guyana will not feel pressurized to commit any act or do anything which has the effect of jeopardizing the project either for any political compulsions or for any other ulterior motives” he added.
Parikh said too that since the award of the contract two years ago, SECL has been working relentlessly for the progress of the project and has invested a huge amount of resources in terms of time, money and manpower, and continues to stay committed to see the project completely through.
“The Government of Guyana is fully aware that the reasons for delay in the project are solely because of its own failure to meet its own obligations under the contract. The stoppage of work was only because of failure or neglect on (the) part of the government of Guyana from fulfilling its obligations,” he said, while noting that it is shocking to hear press reports “which can only be interpreted as a desperate attempt on part of the Government of Guyana to wriggle out (of) its stated commitments towards the project.”
He also said SECL is entitled to recover several million US dollars from the government for work done at the site so far and later added that the company reserves all its rights to pursue all such remedies as may be advised.
Parikh also said SECL has been around for 40 years and has vast experience and expertise in engineering and construction, having completed more than 100 projects in 33 countries. “The capability of the firm was never in question as is evident from history,” he added.
Observers say the government may have also acted to terminate the hospital contract as one of the aggrieved bidders was actively pursuing the matter in New Delhi and that the Indian Parliament could have possibly taken action over the project.
The announcement of the termination of the contract was an embarrassing about-face for the government, which had been accused of molly-cuddling Surendra and giving it preference despite it not having a good track record. Surendra first burst onto the scene here when it was given a huge contract under the Jagdeo administration for the Enmore sugar packaging plant. This plant later encountered difficulties with a boiler that resulted in the death of a worker. This was followed by the India-funded $820M contract for the pumps which critics said should not have been given to it since there were better qualified companies who were actual producers of pumps whereas Surendra was simply sourcing them from suppliers. The contract for the pumps remains mired in confusion. Surendra was also mentioned as a possible manager of the troubled Skeldon sugar factory until objections were raised to this. Surendra was then controversially given the contract for the Specialty Hospital despite not ever having built such a facility and though it was competing against other bidders who had done such work.
