Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo last week alleged that government has partnered with an oil and gas company to hire a firm to rebut a report which will soon be released by international extractive industries watchdog, Global Witness.
Jagdeo made the allegation at his weekly press conference but gave no information as to the identity of the oil and gas company, or the veracity of the information he shared.
In a letter published in the Stabroek News on January 30th, former adviser to President David Granger in oil and gas, Jan Mangal, noted that Foreign Secretary Carl Greenidge used 14 minutes of his allotted time at a recent rally to criticise him, and Global Witness.
Pointing out that Greenidge referred to the organisation as “jokers,” Mangal countered that the organisation is renowned as the foremost anti-corruption body in oil and gas, and has uncovered massive corruption amounting to billions of US dollars in the past. Jagdeo speculated that Greenidge’s conduct suggests that he has been shown the report by an oil and gas firm, or has received the report himself. He further said that Greenidge, through his comments, is laying the groundwork for an impending rebuttal.
Stabroek News reached out to Greenidge for a comment on this allegation via his cellphone, but each call went unanswered.
Stabroek News reported last week that statistics and calculations by Global Witness show that Guyana has an oil deal far below global standards and will lose out on up to US$55 billion over the 40-year period of the licence for the Stabroek Block, which is held by ExxonMobil and its partners.
