-following intervention by Ali, says Mustapha
After six years, 19 rice millers yesterday received the $1.5 billion owed to them by the Panamanian government for the delivery of 9,000 tonnes of rice following interventions by President Irfaan Ali, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha disclosed.
“After years of not going anywhere and they were going to institute arbitration, President Ali met with the Panamanian President… we got up all the info… and here we received the first tranche two months ago and then the rest. So it was due to that intervention,” the agriculture minister told Stabroek News yesterday when contacted.
In a press release yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture announced the payout stating that 19 rice millers had received a total of $1.5 billion, in the form of cheques, owed to them by the Panamanian government and that Mustapha had handed those out.
The minister explained that the monies were owed for supplies back in 2018, under a deal the Guyana government had secured in 2014 for the supply of rice by millers to Panama.
“We had made the deal in 2014 and it was going well up to 2018 when the people [Panama] stopped paying. Because of this action, six rice mills were forced to close and just think of the direct and indirect impact that had on the industry. The non-payment continued and when we got into government [in 2020] we said we would see what we could do…,” Mustapha said.
“I had met with the Panama Minister of Agriculture on the sidelines of a meeting and after that we had bilaterals. There were like two or three Panamanian representatives and we had me, the AG and so on. The talks went well but after that nothing happened and that wasn’t going anywhere. They [the millers] said they would institute arbitration,” he added.
The agriculture minister said that at another global forum, President Ali had met with the President of Panama and he raised the issue which the Panamanian government promised to look into and subsequently did.
Heaping praise on Ali, Mustapha said, “We would have never gotten here if not for the President’s direct intervention.”
Wazeer Hossein of Wazeer Hossein Rice Milling Complex yesterday told the Department of Public Information (DPI) that the mill will now reopen.
“…because I waited so long for it. It was overdue. It even affected us in the industry. We were closed for a while because of the payments,” he added.
Mohindra Persaud of Nand Persaud & Company described the legal process as “very long and stressful” but welcomed its resolution.
He told DPI “I guess now all of us are happy that this financial issue has been settled. This brings the Panama sales to a closure. I want to say thanks to the government and Minister Zulfikar Mustapha for getting this matter concluded.”
Praemwatie Baliram of D Suklall Rice Industry stated “We feel a great relief because we were worried about the equipment that we have in the mill. So, now, that we get the money, we will reopen.”
Fyuse Hoosain of Fyuse Hoosain Rice Milling Complex also confirmed that his mill would resume operations.
In 2022, Mustapha had told this newspaper that the government had received some positive news from officials in Panama and he voiced optimism that the matter would be resolved shortly.
“We are working on it. Let me be frank, I don’t want to make a commitment but we are working to resolve the matter and I am optimistic it should be resolved shortly… I heard some positive news and hopefully we can get it resolved…,” he had told this newspaper.
Those comments came a day after this newspaper had reported that two Essequibo rice millers had moved to the court in a bid to secure payment of millions of dollars owed to them by the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) from the 2018 rice deal with Panama.
Nazeemul Hakh and Shareeda Hakh, of Golden Fleece Rice Investment, by way of a fixed date application, were asking the court to appoint an arbitrator to preside over their dispute with the GRDB. The millers were owed a sum of US$308,620.03, equivalent to $63,807,036.
According to the Hakh’s application, the sum was 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.
In June, of that same year, their attorney, K.A. Juman-Yassin SC, 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 the following month 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.
The millers contended that the failure of the GRDB to pay them from November, 2018 was “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.”
Investigations had revealed a delay in payments of $1,184,198,400 owed by the Panamanian government and last December President Ali informed millers that it has been difficult to get a commitment from the Panamanian government to honour their payment obligations.
Last year June, High Court Judge Gino Persaud ruled that together with interest, the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) must pay Vilvoorden Investment Inc for the US$77,000 worth of rice it had supplied for exportation to Panama for which it was never paid.
In a separate case brought by Nazeemul Hakh – trading as Golden Fleece Rice Investment – GRDB was also ordered to pay that rice milling company US$308,620; along with interest also, for supplying rice it has never been paid for.
