More than a month after Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo threatened to sue him for libel, no one can provide information on the current whereabouts of Su Zhi Rong (also known as Su Zhirong), the Chinese businessman at the centre of bribery allegations against Jagdeo in the VICE News exposé.
This newspaper understands that Su was last seen in Guyana in mid-February.
Jagdeo had in April announced that Su, his tenant and neighbour at his Pradoville 2 home, had seemingly abandoned his place of abode, although he had paid his rent up to the end of May 2022.
Jagdeo had said that he was looking for the man he had openly claimed to be his friend, to evict him from the rental property and had last month signaled that he would be suing Su for libel.
Calls to Su’s mobile number, the one on which he had spoken to this newspaper when the interview between VICE and Jagdeo was first aired earlier this year, goes immediately to voicemail.
Stabroek News also reached out to the Association of Chinese Enterprises in Guyana, the local Chinese business body, and an executive informed that Su has since resigned from it.
It is now unclear what will happen to the number of businesses that Su owns here, which include construction, fuel and large-scale lumber and quarrying operations.
Su was also the recipient of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the construction of a hotel. He is also heavily invested in the construction sector here and is the face behind Hi-Tech Construction Inc.
Su has been operating in Guyana since before 2006 and was the recipient of a large lumber concession under his company Rong–An Inc.
In addition to lumber, last year Su was granted a quarrying licence for over 2000 acres of land in Region 7 under the company, Southern Canton International Trading Inc.
Aside from lumber and quarrying, Su is also listed as the head of the China Zhonghao Inc company which shares the same business address with Rong-An Inc and has a bulk fuel facility at the Falls gas station on the East Bank of Demerara. It stores fuel for a number of local dealers and has boasted of its capacity.
‘Took a hit’
Over the past months, Jagdeo has been at the centre of corruption allegations by Su. Su is said to be a middleman and would allegedly lobby the Vice President on behalf of Chinese investors and companies. He told VICE News’ Isobel Yeung, while she was undercover, that Jagdeo was his boss and “processing fees” had to be paid to him to gain access to lucrative contracts in Guyana.
Jagdeo has vehemently denied these allegations and continues to.
The Vice President said that Su has brought his name into disrepute and globally it could mean that his image will be sullied.
“Yes, my reputation took a hit globally. They are not Guyanese so they may not know and this could be really major because it is international. This could be really big,” he said, pointing out that VICE has large viewership globally.
President Irfaan Ali has stood by Jagdeo’s side and dismissed the allegations by Su. And indirectly referencing Su and the VICE News docu-series, he said that government will be going after investors who utilize “middlemen” to conduct their businesses in Guyana.
VICE News has released two video reports on the operations of Chinese businessmen in Guyana and their engagement in alleged corruption. Su was prominent in the first report titled ‘Guyana For Sale’ and which examined the operations of Chinese businesses in the country and challenged Vice President Jagdeo on government corruption.
According to the VICE News report, the trail to securing any agreement begins with the notorious ‘middlemen’ and goes all the way to Guyana’s Vice President, Jagdeo. Su advertised himself as the middleman with access to Jagdeo in both video reports.
VICE News engaged Su while Yeung was undercover with a fake potential investor ‘Mr. Chan’. Su whose rented home is next door to Jagdeo’s in Pradoville 2, took the VICE News undercover `businessman’ Mr. Chan to meet the Vice President.
According to VICE, the act was done to prove to the undercover potential Chinese businessman that “he (Su) has access at the highest level”.
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 showed another interview with a man said to be the General Manager of one of China’s largest construction firms. “The middlemen play a crucial role. With just one word they can get something done,” the General Manager says in Mandarin.
When VICE released an extended version of the initial report earlier this month, it showed footage of a Chinese national confessing to being a money launderer.
