Dear Editor,
I am very suspicious about the timing and sudden claim that the US$5m owed for GTT shares was paid to entities/persons other than NICIL. 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.
At the government’s post cabinet briefing on 20th April 2016, the public was told that the balance of US$5m owed to NICIL for the GTT shares was paid, conveniently, prior to the May 2015 elections. This is not true! Under my presidency, the 20% GT&T share sale transaction was executed between NICIL and Hong Kong Golden Telecom Limited for the total price of US$30m. It was never hidden that US$25m was received and that the purchaser was given two years to pay the balance of US$5m. It was also publicly disclosed by NICIL that efforts were being made to pursue legal recourse in the UK to collect the outstanding balance (refer to Stabroek News December 18, 2015). The PPP/C administration never had any reason to doubt the word of NICIL’s competent technical staff when they said that the amounts were outstanding and every effort was being made to pursue.
Any claim that amounts were paid, would not be hard to prove. The only entity that was and is authorised to receive any monies from the purchaser for this transaction was NICIL. One would assume that had NICIL received this money then there would be a receipt or some form of banking documentation to show its payments. Any claim that some other entity or person received this money would also be easy to prove or disprove.
The Government’s insinuation that the money was paid to someone else or some other entity other than NICIL prior to the May 2015 elections is a distraction from the real issues. Its belligerent claims of massive corruption under the PPP/C administration have yet to be proven by this government. This latest claim is an expected APNU+AFC political ploy to appeal to people’s emotions rather than seeking the truth.
This claim is designed to digress from answering the people’s demands for explanations on who really paid for the trip to China, the naming of the ‘honorific’ advisors and party contributors, and demands for decisive actions against the increase in crime in our country.
Yours faithfully,
Donald Ramotar
Former President
