President Irfaan Ali says he has been assured by Minister in the Ministry of Public Works, Deodat Indar that he doesn’t have any connections with the company, Western Logistics which is a participant in the oil and gas sector.
The President made the statement in response to a question during an exclusive interview with Stabroek News last Monday.
Indar had come under scrutiny when it was revealed by this newspaper that he had held the position as Director of Western Logistics up to some months after he had been appointed a minister in the Ali administration.
Asked if he had inquired into the relationship, Ali told Stabroek News that he had and that Indar had assured him that he had no affiliation with the company.
“Well, I’ve already made a statement on this. Before we came to government, I’ve said it very clearly [that] we had conversations with all the ministers and I have seen all this in the media. I’ve spoken to the minister and he has given me full assurance that he has no connection with or has done nothing to influence any company,” Ali said.
He added that while he could not remember all of the details surrounding the reports of Indar’s ties with the company and criticisms surrounding it, it should be pointed out that the company was private.
“And this is also a private company in a private transaction. If there is a company that is operating privately out there, and there’s another company, if there’s another company that has an issue with that company, they have the judiciary, a separate arm of government. We can’t dictate what private companies do out there,” he said.
Ali did not comment on the documents obtained by Stabroek News from the Deeds Registry and which were signed by the minister and dated after he became a minister of government.
The President said that he understood that there were allegations of documents belonging to the company being stolen and that area has to be taken up by law enforcement.
“In this case, I think you have some issue with stolen documents. If that is a police matter, then the police have to deal with that…I’m saying there was an allegation that was made, and a report was made to the police. That’s a police matter. I don’t get involved in that,” he said.
The documents in Stabroek News’ possession were obtained following a formal request to the Deeds Registry.
Enquiry
In June of this year, an enquiry by the Sunday Stabroek about Indar’s connections to the company saw him accusing the newspaper of being in possession of stolen documents, leading to a visit by the police.
Indar told the reporter 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 Brickdam Police Station later visited Stabroek News in relation to the documents and they were spoken to by the Editor-in-Chief (EiC) of the newspaper, Anand Persaud.
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 of Western Logistics 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 Logistics 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.”
On July 11th, Stabroek News attempted to question Indar further about his relationship with the principals of Western Logistics and the fact that vehicles belonging to the company were being parked at his premises. He declined to say anything further.
