An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure

Dear Editor,
The Cap Philippe did not come at night and leave with Guyana’s profit-oil before dawn, it is, after all, an oil tanker, not a pirate ship, but for all that we know and have gotten for our profit oil, it may as well have been Blackbeard’s Revenge. We know that Dr Mark Bynoe will not tell us what has been paid for our profit oil or indeed, to whom it has been paid. Shell Western Supply and Trading Limited, however, can and must do so, especially if they want to avoid international criminal charges for its directors and blacklisting of the company.
In May of 2010, Guyana committed to implementing Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and we became EITI Candidate country in October 2017. The involvement of the EITI is intended as a safeguard of our resources; can EITI (Guyana) tell us who received the payment from Shell Western? Then there is the Natural Resource Fund Act complete with the New York bank account, has there been a deposit into same? Can Winston Jordan confirm that a deposit has been made and if so how much? And if none has been made, why not? With all the assurances of transparency offered by David Granger and associates before the oil was pumped into the Cap Philippe, it is astounding to see how opaque details surrounding the very first lift has become; it begs the question of what exactly is at play.
The sight of the Tedorin Obiang’s 90-meter yacht moored in Trinidad for carnival celebrations as a conviction and three-year jail term in France for its owner outstanding speaks to the murkiness of international law when it comes to recovery of stolen state assets. Pressure from every possible source must be brought to bear for a declaration (before Election Day) of what has been paid by Shell Western and to whom. Failing this, our Commissioner of Police should consider a lengthy no-fly list until clarity on where over thirteen billion dollars from the first lift has gone; when it comes to heists, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Respectfully,
Robin Singh