While undercover, VICE News’ Isobel Yeung recorded a number of Chinese businessmen operating in Guyana admitting to laundering money and paying bribes to the government in order to gain priority access to lucrative contracts as well as to be able to further their investments here.
This was relayed in an extended version of the VICE News’s video report on ‘Guyana For Sale’ which examined the operations of Chinese businesses in the country and challenged Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on government corruption. Jagdeo has vehemently denied the insinuations against him and has said that he intends to sue the middleman who made the claims.
In a new docu-series, Chinese businessmen admitted to paying bribes and utilising a middle man to secure deals for investment. The bribes are paid to the middlemen as “consulting fees,” the report revealed. It was also revealed that the Chinese businessmen have access to money launderers who operate within their network to swiftly facilitate financial transactions.
Yeung and her undercover colleague (who she referred to as Mr Chan) posed as investors with an interest in mining, logging and construction. She had explained that this was done to uncover the “corrupt deals” in business between the two countries, which enjoy 50 years of diplomatic relations.
While undercover, she said they were presented with a deal dubbed the most lucrative with lands in a prime location where a hotel and casino could be built. VICE agreed that that would be the deal, Yeung said.
Before Yeung’s colleague, Mr Chan, could have met with Jagdeo, he had to indicate to controversial middleman Su Zhirong that he had the capital for investment.
Explaining to Su that their capital is tied up in China, he sets up a meeting with “a couple of guys who he (Su) says are able to transfer huge sums of money into the country.”
In the video, Su was heard making the arrangements for Mr Chan to meet with another set of businessmen who are believed to be involved in money laundering.
With China exercising strict controls over sending money abroad, they had to find an alternative measure.
In that meeting, the men were questioned on which account money should be paid into to secure Jagdeo’s intervention, Su informed, “Once the money is in Guyana. I will give him cash. The Vice President finds this the easiest and most convenient.” As he explained to Yeung and her colleague in a telephone conversation, “… with these procedures no one can pick up on us.”
“There have been a lot of hints throughout our time here that the way that foreign companies are normally getting money into country is through different money launderers that operate here,” Yeung was heard saying
In a meeting which takes place in a hotel room, the individual tells Yeung and her colleague, “they deal with all the Chinese businessmen here in Guyana.”
In the sit-down, the conversation is in mandarin and it was explained that some fees need to be transferred to government officials.
The launderer explain-ed, “the money is transferred through us… it is very easy. What we do is we get around China’s regulations.” He reportedly said that he works with others to transfer cash for both private and Chinese state-controlled companies. He indicated too to the VICE team that he has personally delivered cash directly to government officials.
“You give me RMB [Chinese Yuan] and I can give you cash tomorrow,” he told Yeung who in turn questioned if “that fast?” to which he nodded his head in the affirmative.
“Because of the pandemic some days we can only get you $300,000-$400,000 a day,” he added. When asked if they do that every day he responded in the positive.
According to the men, they use a procedure commonly referred to as “flying money” in the Asian state.
“Money is placed in a bank account in China. The equivalent amount minus a hefty fee is taken out in Guyana getting around taxes and border restrictions,” she explained
Depending on the source of the money, the laundering fee is set. “Tell me about your money. If its drug money, the client will tell me that. There is a way to handle that. For “dirty” money from corrupt Chinese officials, we have another way to do it… If you want cash we charge 20 per cent now…” the launderer explained.
He went on to state, “If the money is related to the government, we are at risk of being arrested,” when Mr Chan indicated that 20 per cent was hefty.
Mining camp
The VICE programme begins with Yeung at a mining camp interacting with a Chinese miner and transitions into engagements with elite Chinese businessmen.
The programme then continues with Yeung saying that they were undercover with business elites at a country retreat. The location appears to be somewhere on the Deme-rara River. A man plays with a dog while others peel coconuts for drinking and overlook a variety of meats being grilled. Another aims what appears to be a high-powered gun, discharging rounds for leisure.
She points out to the audience that the VICE team had been in Guyana for weeks, “working our way into elite business circles and captured conversations we wouldn’t normally have heard.”
In the twenty four-minute and thirty six-second video, Yeung stated that their objective is to figure out and establish how the Chinese do business with Guyana government.
At the meet and greet at the private country retreat, she disclosed that a timber exporter offered advice on how to best work the system and secure a lucrative deal.
Equipped with body cams, Yeung records the exporter saying, “Every-thing is under the table,” while another adds, “the whole country is like that.”
Another one laughs and says “It would be more worrying if they weren’t corrupt.”
The entire conversation was in Chinese Mandarin.
As she questioned which connection in the country is most important, the exporter, before she could have completed her question, answers saying “Basically, as long as you have a good relationship with the Vice President, you are set.”
“You don’t need the President. The Vice President. One call will take care of everything,” he said gesturing his hand to illustrate the strength of the person.
After much interaction they were informed that Su Zhirong is the individual who can get them a meeting with Jagdeo.
The meeting was set up with Su and occurs on the second floor of a huge concrete and steel building that is under construction. “If you want to get anything done in Guyana and you need some connections, you tell me. It should be no problem. I am very close with the Vice President and other officials,” Su is heard bragging.
He also indicates to Yeung and her colleague who were still undercover that he can assist them with any business deal for the right price.
Su refers to Jagdeo as his boss. When asked how much the operative would have to pay, Su said, “Mr Chan, we will split the amount with the boss.”
He told the operatives, “If we are going to do business, my boss is not going to receive the money directly.” Su said the money will be referred to as a “service fee” and then said his boss will split the proceeds with him.
Yeung said that Su is not the only person that tells them that the “service fee” middlemen like Su take for bribes are huge amounts, as they show another interview with a man said to be the General Manager of one of China’s largest construction firms.
While meeting at a café the manager explains, “Yes, because they don’t do actual consulting” when asked if the bribe was considered a “consulting fee.”
“The middlemen play a crucial role. With just one word they can get something done and if they don’t say anything no one can get anything done,” the General Manager says in Mandarin.
Yeung without mentioning the name of the company, which is involved in a major energy project here, referenced it and said the company is “linked directly to the Chinese Communist Party.”
Beijing authorities
From what she gathered, she formed the opinion that the way the company “is seeming to do business here is also very much under the table. It does imply very much Beijing authorities know exactly what is going on.”
Yeung also pointed out that Su showed them documents of businesses of his and others that he played a role in sealing, including a large road project. Su also had correspondence relating to the Amaila Falls project.
“Su showed us evidence of his own involvement in multi-million dollars deal between Guyana’s government and a large Chinese company state run corporation including a contract for his work as an agent on a big road project and letters sent from the government about the same hydro power plant we flew over in the rain forest,” she reported.
Su is asked about the money to be given to Jagdeo and he says that once the money is in Guyana he would give Jagdeo the cash. “The Vice President finds this the easiest and most convenient. With these procedures, no one can pick up on us,” he boasts.
It was then Su took Chan to Jagdeo. Chan asks Jagdeo if he understood the deal he [Chan] has with Su, “in detail” and Jagdeo replies “No, no, no. I am not getting involved in business. You will get the support. Su is my friend, he gets all the support. He deals with all the agreements. I don’t. I don’t,” Jagdeo replies.
“The thing is I am in government so I assist from government’s side. That is it,” Jagdeo adds.
“I know. I know. I understand,” Chan says.
Su then interjects in Mandarin saying that it was not the place to talk about the bribes. “You can just talk to me about these things,” Su said, with the VICE undercover person replying, also in Mandarin, that while they knew that, they needed to know that Jagdeo will get the money Su has asked for.
“I have to know the money is going to him,” the interpreter reports Chan as saying.
Su assures him, “I will give him the money with you.”
While they were leaving Jagdeo’s residence, the duo continue conversing in Mandarin with Su saying that Jagdeo’s hands are “very clean” and that “other amounts of money before this have been much bigger.” According to Su, the hydroelectric plant deal would have seen them getting tens of millions of dollars. “He had me handle those. He would never admit that he is involved in this.”
He also said that Jagdeo shared some of the money with him. Jagdeo has vehemently denied involvement in any such transactions.
China’s heavy involvement and influence here was also referred to in the report and raised questions of what’s at stake for the US, another major partner in Guyana and Caribbean development.
Yeung notes that as China expands into South America, the United States sees the growing presence as a threat, and points out, “This is a region where America has long held political and regional dominance.”
US President Joe Biden is reported on the programme saying that, “China has an overall goal to become the wealthiest country in the world and the most powerful country in the world” but “that’s not going to happen on my watch.”
China’s construction programme in 2021 neared US $16 billion, a four-fold increase since 2005 according to the report.
Chinese State banks have also loaned over US$138 billion to governments in the region under their ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ which caters for funding in some 150 countries. The journalist opines that it is “a massive infrastructure pushed by China to bring development funding and soft power influence around the globe.”
China’s generous funding is being provided with geopolitical strings, the programme stated and that was clearly illustrated in the roll back of the announcement last year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that a Taiwan office was being set up here.
Yeung said VICE News was told by its sources in the Chinese Embassy here that the reason was “because of Chinese funding and pressure from China.”
A business associate close to the Chinese Embassy told Mr Chan and Yeung over a meal, “When the Chinese government opposed, after about a few hours [Guyana’s] Foreign Affairs Ministry immediately announced that it was a rumour. It was not true that they were building a relationship with Taiwan. With One China Policy there is no possibility for Taiwan to have any office in Guyana.”
The business associate claims that days after the roll back, “the leaders of China and Guyana had a phone call for China to lend US$1.5 billion to Guyana at a low interest rate.”
This newspaper in October 2021 had reported that government was in talks with China to access as much as US$1.5 billion in loans to finance a number of big-ticket projects.
Sources told Stabroek News that Georgetown is seeking financing through China’s Exim Bank of approximately US$750 million for a hydropower facility. This would most likely be the planned Amaila Falls Hydropower project. Funds are also being sought for a highway from Schoonord to Parika in Region Three. This project is pegged at US$200 million.
Around US$200 million is also being sought from Beijing for the upgrading of the Annandale to Mahaica stretch, Sheriff Street to Enmore and a new road from Enmore to Clonbrook. Also on the list of projects is the upgrading of hinterland connections to the tune of US$100 million. The request also covers US$100 million for selected community roads.
Yeung explained that months after their conversation with the business associate, the offer was made public. This she said, suggested that the associate was privy to inside knowledge about what went down.
However, prior to the publication of her report, he indicated that he did not recall making such remarks.
Government has not acted on the offer.
When the initial programme aired on June 18, Jagdeo vowed to sue his tenant and businessman Su Zhirong for statements in the broadcast suggesting that he (Jagdeo) took bribes.
This newspaper understands that Su has not occupied the residence since mid-February, shortly after Jagdeo had uploaded the VICE News interview, but his rent has been paid up to May 31, 2022.
After Jagdeo had published on February 7, 2022 the interview that he had done with VICE News and in which it was stated that Su had made the allegations against him, Su denied that he had accused Jagdeo of corruption. However, in the programme broadcast on June 18, Su is heard alleging that monies are paid to Jagdeo.
“He had said that VICE News lied on him and had issued a statement [to this effect]. Now that they have him on record as though he was doing this, that he claimed he was not doing, that means he has abused the access and friendship he had with me to rip people off. So I am going to take legal action against him, because he is damaging my reputation in doing [so] and also he will no longer, as I had said in the past when you had asked me about it, he will no longer be a tenant,” Jagdeo told Stabroek News when contacted after the programme was aired on June 18.
