With the Audit Office preparing to investigate suspected procurement abuses at the state-owned Guyoil, resigned General Manager Trevor Bassoo on Friday distanced himself from a new claim that he had been negotiating with firm Aaron’s Royality Inc. (ARI) to supply fuel, while saying that his decision to step down preceded the company’s corruption allegations.
Bassoo issued a statement through public relations firm Tagman Inc. in the wake of Guyoil Director Akanni Blair, who was implicated by ARI as one of two officials from whom it received commitments for a fuel supply contract, naming him as a person who was separately negotiating with the company.