After several days of questioning, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) on Thursday, October 26th finally announced what penalty would be meted out to its Senior Petroleum Coordinator, Gopnauth `Bobby’ Gossai over the scandalous, unauthorised miniaturising of disputed oil expenses in clandestine discussions with ExxonMobil.
It was in the late hours of October 5th that the MNR in a release had blamed Mr Gossai for the boiling down of the US$214.4m figure to US$3m with the Minister, Vickram Bharrat announcing that he had “asked the Permanent Secretary to take the necessary disciplinary measures”. It took three weeks and questioning by Stabroek News before the decision on disciplining was finally released and it was uproarious.
For having spearheaded illicit talks with ExxonMobil that eroded US$105.5m in profits due to this country, Mr Gossai will lose 15 days’ pay and a warning has been issued to him. The Ministry sought refuge in Public Service Rules for the embarrassing disparity between the disciplining and the scale of the transgression even though it is debatable whether those rules applied in this case.
While the slap on the wrist for Mr Gossai will be classified as a great escape, the reputational damage done to him and the government’s image as custodian of the country’s oil and gas revenues is immense.
First, the Atlantic breadth of Mr Gossai’s infringement should have immediately caused a loss of confidence by the government and the ministry in his ability to perform his duties. This should have resulted in his removal from the post or his resignation. Mr Gossai’s silence since the eruption of this scandal and his retention may signal that he has agreed to accept blame for this fiasco.
This is where it becomes quite difficult for the government and the ministry. After this let-off of Mr Gossai, no independent-minded Guyanese will trust the ministry as a steward of the country’s oil and gas revenues and wider governance of the sector. As is customary, the government is engaged in damage control to protect the people it has inserted into key positions.
An independent investigation had been required of how exactly Mr Gossai entered into negotiations with ExxonMobil. This would have entailed an examination of the roles played by him, Minister Bharrat and the ExxonMobil negotiator and all others who might have played a part. Such an investigation could have been severely damaging to all parties and there could have been untold fallout for all. It was a risk that President Ali’s government seemed unwilling to take but the damage has already been done.
The jaguar in the room is still to be addressed. How and when will Guyana be credited with the US$105.5m in profit which had been due to it but which had been sequestered by the unjustified expenses claims by ExxonMobil and partners? What injunctions have been issued by the Government of Guyana to these oil companies to ensure that on this long road ahead that Guyana and its people are not once again denied what they are legally due from this abominable 2016 Production Sharing Agreement?
Also still in the great escape category is Troy Resources Guyana Inc’s abandonment of its Karouni mine and departure from this country while owing $2.6b in royalties and without complying with its hefty mine closure responsibilities. The government tried more damage control last week but its culpability is undiminished. While it is true that the APNU+AFC government should have collected royalties which were due up to 2020, that in no way absolves the PPP/C Government from exercising the full range of its duties from August 2, 2020 particularly considering that Troy was in distress and would have been challenged to make payments.
Troy Resources’ last reported production figure of 2,653 ounces of gold was in February 2021, up from 2,113 ounces in January 2021, putting production for the first two months of the year at 4,766 ounces compared to 4,195 ounces for the last quarter of 2020. Were these royalties collected by the current government?
A medium to large scale foreign gold mining company engaged in the export of gold would have hydra-headed connections with many parts of the government: the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, the Guyana Gold Board, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour, the Environmental Protection Agency etc. An examination of the interactions of these entities with Troy Resources would be very revealing and would expose varying degrees of dereliction.
The jaguar in this room revolves around what actions will be taken by the PPP/C government to retrieve what has been lost in this hasty exit from the country. Fortuitously, the Attorney General just recently successfully piloted the Foreign Judgements (Reciprocal Enforcement Act) 2023 and the public awaits the lodging of a case against Troy Resources.
What must under no circumstances become a great escape is the award of an $865m contract to Tepui for the Belle Vue pump station. One of the principals of Tepui has clear connections with a senior government official but nothing to recommend the company for the job. The Public Procurement Commission (PPC) has written to the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) and the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) requesting a range of information on the controversial award of the project for a determination of the complaint brought by former Public Works Minister David Patterson. Thus far, the NPTAB and NDIA have not responded to the request for information. The PPC itself has come under intense scrutiny as to whether it is discharging its weighty obligations under the constitution. We shall see.
