AFC executive allegedly forges document to get Govt contracts

Region Six Contractor Joseph Baithu, also Secretary at the AFC Berbice Office, is at the centre of a probe into the forgery of a document in an attempt to get Government contracts worth in excess of $10 million.

He allegedly forged the signature of a Corentyne businessman purporting to show that he could get credit to the tune of $10 million.
His letter was sent to the Ministry of Communities with the aim of securing Government contracts.
The issue was discussed on Thursday at the statutory meeting of the Region Six Administration, where People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Councillor Zamal Hussain told the house that the store owner contacted him on the issue claiming that the document submitted to the Communities Ministry was a forgery.
“The particular person whose letterhead is being used had asked me to raise this issue publically, so that all the other ministries can be aware that a letter was drafted by this contractor to give him credit facilities to the sum of $10 million”, Hussain told the RDC.
However, the contractor in question had been given Government contracts in the past, the most recent of which was to repair a Corentyne school.

Guyana Times is in receipt of an undated letter purportedly from Karran and Sons General Store of Bush Lot, Corentyne Berbice. The content of this letter are as follows: “I wish to verify that I have known Mr. Joseph Baithu now civil contractor of Quad Construction of Lot 168 Number 45 Village Corentyne, Berbice. I am willing to assist him with a credit facility of the sum of $10M in building material for a period of not more than thirty days”.
When Guyana Times contacted the owner of the establishment, he denied that the signature on the letter was his. He even related that he is owed $400,000 by the contractor, and is having difficulty receiving his money, after initially giving him $800,000 in credit to repair a school. In light of this development, Hussain called on the RDC to address the issue at once.
“The contractor is being given contracts based on a (false) and a fraudulent letter… This is serious business.” Hussain said.
The Prime Minister’s Region 6 Representative, Gobin Harbhajan, told the RDC that the owner of the hardware store approached him on the issue and raised his concerns.
“I don’t care which political party this contractor supports, I want this matter to be raised at the highest level; and if found guilty, he should receive the full penalty of the law; because we have been talking about corruption, now we actually have the proof. The thing is: how many other places have this letter been used before,” Harbhajan added.