Dear Editor,
I, Joel Bhagwandin, SphereX’ s Director, had set out a strict conditionality to client, EMGL, prior to accepting a contract, establishing unequivocally at the outset that the firm will not advance and/or advocate for any position that would be favourable exclusively to EMGL and unfavourable to the Government of Guyana—and more so against the national interest. Through the said contract, EMGL solicits professional advice on Government Affairs and political matters on certain sensitive issues.
Recently, I took a strong position against EMGL with regard to the incestuous relationship that EMGL insists on maintaining with the newly elected leader, Mr. Nigel Hughes of the AFC in Guyana. I had written several strong missives to this effect in the mainstream media including an exclusive interview on the subject on National Television. This is despite the violation of EMGL’s internal anti-corruption policies and political activities guidelines that unambiguously prohibits funding of political candidates in any form whatsoever, in countries other than the United States of America.
Subsequently, EMGL sought my views as regards the above concerns raised by me within the public domain and more importantly, the Government of Guyana. EMGL’s main concern was that “how long would this last”, to which I responded, “Until EMGL remedy this situation by complying with their anti-corruption and political activities policies.” I went a step further suggesting to EMGL that if they are opposed to terminating the contract with the law firm entirely that the AFC leader is affiliated with, then the minimum that they can at least consider is to insist on the law firm ring-fencing their relationship internally. In so doing, Nigel Hughes should no longer be the attorney dealing with the EMGL portfolio, on behalf of the law firm, which is what he had disclosed to the public, but that was quickly disproven.
I suggested, further, that if EMGL considers this option that it would have to be done in a manner that is satisfactorily transparent for the stakeholders involved, mainly the Government of Guyana.
It would appear, however, that EMGL has no such intention (unsurprisingly) to do anything about these major concerns. In this respect, it can be argued that EMGL is no longer engineering a covert political project, but an overt political operation aimed at influencing the outcome of the upcoming general and regional elections in 2025; wherein EMGL may prefer to have a government that would serve their exclusive interests, as was arguably the case under the former coalition government. In a highly anticipated move by our client, EMGL, today (June 14, 2024) EMGL’s focal point with SphereX, invited me to discuss putting our contract on pause until after the elections. I unhesitatingly responded in the negative, and instead immediately communicated that in the circumstances, I prefer to terminate the contract between EMGL and SphereX with immediate effect. The referenced contract has since been terminated by SphereX with EMGL.
Sincerely,
Joel Bhagwandin
Director
