An enquiry by the Sunday Stabroek about Minister in the Ministry of Public Works Deodat Indar’s connections to a company saw him accusing the newspaper of being in possession of stolen documents, leading to a visit by the police.
Indar told the reporter last Tuesday that he would make contact with the company, Western Logistics Guyana Inc, and that the police would visit the newspaper to find out where it got the documents from.
Two detectives from the CID Division of the Brick-dam Police Station later visited Stabroek News on Thursday in relation to the documents and they were spoken to by the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the newspaper, Anand Persaud.
In an invited comment, Persaud said Minister Indar’s assertion about stolen documents was outrageous and his instigating of the dispatch of police detectives to the newspaper had to be seen as an act of intimidation aimed at interfering with the legitimate work of the newspaper. Persaud said the minister’s conduct signals that he does have an ongoing relationship with the company and this was what the newspaper visited his office to question him about.
Persaud said that as it routinely does, the newspaper sourced the documents from the Deeds Registry and paid the requisite fees. He said that the registry stamp was clearly visible on the documents if Indar had been interested in establishing its provenance.
Furthermore, Persaud said that Indar should be fully aware that public officials like him have to be answerable to matters connected to the Code of Conduct annexed to the Integrity Commission Act.
Persaud said he advised the two detectives that their visit had been initiated based on an outrageous allegation by Indar that the newspaper was in possession of stolen documents. Persaud later spoke to the superior of the detectives and said that a statement would be provided by the reporter averring that the documents were obtained from the Deeds Registry.
During the interview with the reporter where he made the accusation that documents had been stolen, Indar acknowledged that he had once been an officer of the company, which is engaged in providing logistics services to operators in the oil and gas sector. One document in possession of the newspaper shows Indar signing as a Director on October 30th, 2020. Indar was appointed a minister in August of 2020.
Indar said that Western Logistics will receive no special treatment from him as when he became a minister in 2020 he relinquished his directorship portfolio and responsibilities.
He also dismissed concerns that Western Logis-tics would be given preferential treatment because of past ties to him. He said that the company’s competitors were attempting to undermine the company. “I am no way involved with the company. I am not an owner of the company or an officer of the company. I resigned my position when I took office in government,” Indar said at his office in the Ministry of Public Works.
He also emphasised that the company will be given no preferential treatment by his ministry. “I give every company fair treatment. Every company that walks through the door I give fair treatment. There is no unfair treatment here. There is no unfair benefit to anybody…,” the minister said.
Documents obtained by Sunday Stabroek from the Deeds Registry in March of this year show that Indar signed a Board Resolution on October 30, 2020, as a Director of the company, to appoint a “Director and Secretary as signatory of the company to execute all relevant documents on behalf of the company.”
That document stated that an Extraordinary General Meeting of the company was convened and held on the 30th September, 2020, with four resolutions passed.
It was agreed that the following persons were appointed Directors: Komal Ram Ramnauth, Company Secretary; Bibi Narissa Shaneza Haroon, Director; and Jaikerren Persaud, Director.
The meeting also appointed the Director and Secretary “as signatory of the company to execute all relevant documents on behalf of the company”.
It was also agreed that the company would:
“i) Apply to the Bank of Nova Scotia for a Guarantee Facility for the purpose of a Bond security with the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) in the amount $600,000 (Six Hundred Thousand Guyanese Dollars).
ii) The company would change their existing account [number included] trading as Western Logistics Guyana to the company account in the name of Western Logistics Guyana Inc.
iii) The following persons will be authorized to sign cheques, withdraw and make any decision with regards to account [number included] held with the Bank of Nova Scotia…,”
Pradeep Ramoutar and Bibi Balkissoon were authorized as the signatories.
Ramoutar and Ramnauth are also “authorized to borrow, sign guarantee and commitment letters and or promissory note on the company’s [behalf].”
The new company, Western Logistics Guyana Inc., was incorporated under the Companies Act of Guyana on 3rd of September, 2020.
An organizational meeting was held on October 1st, 2020 at the company’s registered office at Fort and Barrack streets, Kingston Georgetown, where its bylaws were adopted.
Noted also was that the total shares, representing 100% equity of the shares, were issued to Jaikerran Persaud of Lot 47 New Road Vreed en Hoop and he, the document said, “shall be the signatory to all of the company bank accounts in the name of the company.”
Attacks
Claiming that the documents were stolen despite being told that they were from the Registry, Indar said: “It is kind of a sad situation that somebody would steal documents. These are not from the Registry”.
“These are original documents belonging to the company that I signed when I came in government to remove myself from this company. I was an officer of the company in the past just as an officer of Sterling Limited. I don’t see Sterling stuff here. What I see is a company that is now under the subject under malicious and vicious attacks,” he said.
He stated that Western Logistics’ Kingston office was broken into on Good Friday, April 15th 2022, and original documents that he had signed were stolen.
Indar referred this newspaper to the Chief Executive Officer of the Western Logistics and said that the Commander of the division the office was located in would be called to investigate how the Sunday Stabroek got its documents.
The Western Logistics CEO was called and he supported Indar’s position that when he (Indar) took office as a Minister of government, a resolution was taken “where he transferred everything.” According to Ramoutar, this was in October of 2020. It is unclear what form the transfer took.
Ramoutar also repeated that there was a break-in at the Western Logistics office on the night of Good Friday this year and that the office was “ransacked all angles and we found that there were documents that were stolen.”
“The filing cabinets were broken into, they took pictures of the guy. He had documents. We have not found him,” he said.
Photographs and a video were sent via WhatsApp by Ramoutar of the alleged incident.
