General Manager of the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) Lisaveta Ramotar yesterday broke her silence on the investigation at her agency, and for which she was sent on administrative leave, asserting her innocence of any wrongdoing.
Ramotar, who was employed at the GGB in January of 2015, was sent on leave last week to facilitate the investigation into allegations of money laundering.
“I wish to assert strongly that I am absolutely innocent of any wrongdoings. I have discharged my duties at the Guyana Gold Board professionally and based on the important metric of declaration it was under my tenure that the Co-operative Republic of Guyana obtained its highest ever declaration to date,” Ramotar stated.
She told Stabroek News that she felt that she could not wait longer to break her silence because reports in the Kaieteur News were implicating her although no one reached out to her for comment.
“I was sort of leaving it and not respond because I believed in the integrity of the investigation and myself and that the truth would be known when it is done. But I saw this statement given that implied that I had instructed Ms [Susan] Bullen to incorporate the company for Mr [Saddiqi] Rasul and it [the report] said I denied it,” she said. “I was shocked and confused at the report because number one I would never do such a thing and secondly, no one ever asked me about this issue.”
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Natural Resources had stated that it had noted media reports on the charges of alleged bank fraud against licensed gold dealer Rasul and the alleged linkages with personnel at the GGB.
As consequence of the reports, the ministry had said in a statement that it would maintain vigilance over the operations of the board and would assign the incoming directors with the immediate task of investigating this and related matters. The investigation, it said, would seek to determine whether anyone from the agency acted improperly or outside of their mandate in conducting business with Rasul.
The ministry said it had also requested the Guyana Police Force to provide additional information and clarification with a view to aiding the investigation.
The General Manager, who is the daughter of former president Donald Ramotar, explained that she felt she should give the public the facts, as they pertain to allegations of her involvement, to let them judge instead of only hearing one side; that being from the press.
Peddled
However, so as not to prejudice the investigation further, she would only deal with what has been peddled in the media. Her statement was in direct response to issues which she said were highlighted in the press during the period of April 3, to April 23, 2017.
She said she believed she was being pulled into the spotlight because she is the daughter of the former president and some persons believe she acquired her job at the GGB on that ground.
“With all the allegations of my involvement being played up in the press every day and that having the propensity to influence opinion, I think I should lay out the facts… The media outlet that is carrying this, it speaks about my association – that alone is showing that it is the former president. I was hired by the Board of Directors. I was never hired by a minister nor would I take a job offer from a minister on the grounds of politics. I am confident in my qualifications and if one were to look at the requirements for the job one would see I surpassed them,” she asserted.
Through her attorney Anil Nandlall, a replica of the statement that Ramotar had given to the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU) was released. She lists her qualifications as an undergraduate degree in Business Management from the University of Guyana, a Master’s degree in Finance and Investment from the University of York (UK) and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Toronto.
In her statement to investigators, Ramotar explained that while she was not called in for questioning by the police, she was asked by Minister of Natural Resources Raphael Trotman to cooperate and felt compelled to give a voluntary statement.
She said that many persons were not familiar with the functions of the GGB and reports seemed to have made those views further clouded.
Washing down
Ramotar noted that while an area of contention reported was that Rasul sold gold several times per day using his mining company and which was indicative of washing down several times per day, her agency was mandated to only buy gold presented and not verify productions.
“The organisation does not verify production. The current process at the Guyana Gold Board is such that those in possession of gold can either have a production sheet which would be a sheet out of the production books issued by GGMC [Guyana Geology and Mines Commission] or they may be given a permission slip, which is issued by the Guyana Gold Board. The Finance Department of the Guyana Gold Board collects both production sheets and permission slips when the department makes payments to those selling gold. The production sheets and permission slips are uplifted daily by the GGMC, the body that regulates mining in Guyana,” she noted.
Further, she pointed out that although there were allegations of multiple visits by Rasul to the GGB, no officer from GGB ever reported suspicions of money laundering, although they all have been trained in anti-money laundering compliance.
“In the training, staff members were told to report suspicious activities to the Compliance Officer. Yet, the Compliance Officer never indicated that she received such reports from staff. It must also be mentioned that Threshold reports are sent monthly to the Financial Intelligence Unit and all of Mr Rasul’s companies’ transactions are on those reports.”
And on the contention that Rasul’s company did not pay the two per cent tax, Ramotar explained, “Under a regulation which I have seen, mining companies are not required to pay the two per cent withholding tax. The Finance Department of the Guyana Gold Board is directly responsible for making payments to miners and hence has to get proof that in fact the seller of gold is a mining company. To this end, the Finance Department of the Guyana Gold Board must collect documents to support the non-payment of the withholding tax.”
She dismissed claims that she gave instructions to a manager at Bartica to pay Rasul’s selling representative, on one occasion, the higher of the two daily fixes. Instead, she said, after objections by Rasul that he was underpaid, she intervened and on examining details from both sides, in addition to viewing video recordings of what transpired, he ended up with the same result her manager had set; the lower fix.
Getting to the highly controversial issue where GGB Compliance Officer Bullen was reported to have said she was instructed to incorporate Rasul’s company, Ramotar not only denied this, but said she only learned of Bullen’s role when Bullen said she would resign.
“I wish to strongly deny that I ever gave instructions to Ms Bullen to incorporate Mr Rasul’s company. In fact, the first time I learnt of her incorporating the company is on April 20, 2017, when she indicated that she should resign her position at the Guyana Gold Board because she incorporated the company,” Ramotar stated.
