Commissioner of Information Charles Ramson Sr has instructed civil activist Johnathan Yearwood to write directly to the Ministry of Housing and Water requesting a copy of the contract(s) entered into by the Ministry and Impressions Inc relating to the organizing of the recently concluded International Building Expo.
On July 15, Yearwood wrote to the Commissioner of Information and made a request for the documents following questions that were raised about the partnership between the Ministry and Impressions. Yesterday, Yearwood told Sunday Stabroek that he has since received a reply from Ramson Sr.
“The very next day after he received the letter the Commissioner of Information called me and explained that he is currently on annual leave until sometime in August. So he directed me to write to the Minister of Housing from them to provide me with the information. I have written to the Minister since Monday [July 18] requesting the information but I have not received an acknowledgement or response as yet,” Yearwood related.
He added that Ramson Sr has promised to ensure that the request is also looked at by his office upon his return from leave.
Yesterday, Sunday Stabroek reached out to Minister of Housing and Water Collin Croal who explained that he cannot confirm nor deny receipt of any correspondence from Yearwood.
“As you can hear, I am busy right now because I realised that I haven’t cleared out my correspondence for a while so I am doing that right now. I have been busy for the past few weeks, so I cannot say if it was delivered but if it is in my correspondences then I will look at it and we would respond appropriately,” Croal said.
On July 15, Stabroek News reported that Impressions Inc appeared to be the sole company of its kind selected to organise and run the ongoing International Building Expo at the Providence Stadium. Croal previously told this publication that Impressions was not running the Expo, but that the ministry had set up a secretariat within the company’s building to deal with members of the public who were interested in being a part of the Expo. He cited a lack of space at the ministry for this arrangement.
However, when Stabroek News visited Impressions’ office to take a photograph of the secretariat, it was told that the owner, Patrick `Neal’ Sukhlal, had to give permission for it to do so. A staff member said that Sukhlal was responsible for the secretariat. Also on the Building Expo website, Impressions’ email and phone number were listed as contacts. A call to the number listed verified information that Impressions was responsible for organizing and running the Building Expo. The company is the one that exhibitors had to contact to acquire and pay for a spot.
Croal, however, a few days later told Stabroek News that Impressions was doing “branding and labelling” for the Ministry. He said that the company had been working closely with the Ministry on its ‘Dream Realised,’ project. Croal was unable to say how much Impressions was paid for these services. He also admitted that these services were not tendered for.
In response to that report, Yearwood wrote to Ramson Sr asking for copies of the relevant contracts and associated documents. In his application, Yearwood listed a number of concerns he has in relation to the arrangement between the Ministry and Impressions
He submitted that vast sums of money are being collected and processed by a private company on behalf of a government Ministry and questioned whether the company will be utilizing its private bank account to receive and use the government’s finances.
“Given that it is a private company, Government expenses will be paid for utilizing the Company’s cash and bank accounts [and] official expenses on behalf of the Government could be paid through a private entity’s account. The requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of Guyana could be bypassed. We are concerned that the Company could or would report large receipts and or payments from circumstances and transactions described by the Act,” Yearwood’s application stated.
He also questioned the fees being charged by the company for the services that were provided.
Premium packages for spots at the Building Expo were listed at $8 million, Gold packages at $5 million and Silver at $3 million. Other smaller packages were listed at $1 million, $500,000, $450,000, $380,000, $200,000, $120,000, $60,000, with the cheapest being $15,000 for a table space.
