Two Essequibo rice millers have moved to the High Court in order to secure the payment of millions of dollars owed to them by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) for the supply of rice to the Panamanian market in 2018.
Nazeemul Hakh and Shareeda Hakh, of Golden Fleece Rice Investment, have sought to have the court appoint an arbitrator to preside over their dispute with the GRDB for the payment of a total of US$308,620.03, equivalent to GYD$63,807,036, which they say has been owed for nearly four years.
By way of a fixed date application, filed by their attorney K.A. Juman-Yassin SC, the millers have asked the court for an order for direction as to whether an arbitrator should be appointed, an order appointing an arbitrator to preside over the dispute, or alternatively judgment in the sum owed to them.
Proceedings have commenced before Justice Gino Persaud and Juman-Yassin and attorney Teni Housty are representing the millers.
Stabroek News understands that other millers are also owed by the GRDB for supplies delivered under the deal and more litigation is impending.
According to the Hakhs’ application, which was seen by Sunday Stabroek, the sum is owed for the supply of long grain white rice shipments under two contracts. The rice was supplied between August 1, 2018 and November 7, 2018.
They content that since that time they have made several requests to the GRDB for payment and while it was promised it has yet to materialise.
More recently, in June Juman-Yassin wrote to the General Manager of the GRDB, Badrie Persaud and requested payment for his clients. In reply, Persaud indicated that the matter was engaging the attention of the GRDB’s Board of Directors.
Juman-Yassin wrote Persaud again in July requesting the utilisation of the arbitration facility agreed to under their contract in order to commence arbitration proceedings. There was subsequently no response from Persaud.
“By reason of the failure and or refusal and or neglect by the respondent to fulfil and or perform its contractual obligations under the contracts…, the applicants have suffered and will continue to suffer financial loss, as the applicants had to pay the farmers who had supplied the paddy and they have to be paying interest to the bank for monies that is owed, as a result of not being paid by the respondent,” the application states.
The millers contend that the failure of the GRDB to pay them from November, 2018 to date “is unduly long and unreasonable” and that they are not convinced that sincere and strident efforts have been made “to obtain the sums from buyer in Panama.”
Over $1 billion is owed by the Panamanian government to the GRDB for rice supplied to the country and last December President Irfaan Ali informed millers that it has been difficult to get a commitment from the Panamanian government to honour their payment obligations.
Investigations have revealed a delay in payments of $1,184,198,400 owed by the Panamanian government.
In 2018, the governments of Guyana and Panama renewed their agreement for the supply of rice to the lucrative Panamanian market for 2019.
The value of that contract was US$5.2 million and saw the supply of 200,000 quintals (equivalent to 9,075 tonnes) of white rice being shipped.
In September 2018, 33 containers of parboiled rice instead of white rice was sent to Panama. The shipment was flagged by the Panamanian authorities and returned to Guyana.
In 2014, Guyana sealed a deal with Panama for the supply of 5,000 tonnes of rice per month.
The signing of the 2014 contracts to supply rice to Panama in a Government-to-Government arrangement ensured that Guyana’s rice market continued to expand, with production having risen significantly.
