…urges contractors to file lawsuit over underpayment
Government’s unapologetic move to underpay contractors is a clear signal of its intention to rob citizenry, according to former Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
Former Legal Affairs Minister and Attorney General Anil NandlallFinance Minister Winston Jordan
He was commenting on Finance Minister Winston Jordan’s outburst that contractors would most likely be underpaid for works done on the D’Urban Park Project, and that they can either “take it or leave it”.
“It is now clear that apart from being robbed every day by bandits, the Government has now signalled an intention to rob the Guyanese people, as well. This must be an unprecedented approach for a government to take in the modern world,” Nandlall posited, as he expressed utter shock over the Finance Minister’s position.
He is encouraging contractors to sue the Government, the private company responsible for the Project and its directors/shareholders, which include Education Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine.
“The corporate veil will not protect directors and shareholders who have fraudulently and deceptively withheld from the public that they were dealing with a private company, but in fact deliberately led them to believe that they were dealing with the Government of Guyana,” Nandlall explained.
He surmised that “Ministers of this Government continue to exhibit a reprehensible aura of arrogance, bullyism and a ‘wrong and strong’ approach in their public outpourings”.
He asserted too that “this is the same Minister, who in his budget speech only two weeks ago said that this Government is committed to the rule of law and will respect the constitutional and legal rights of the people of Guyana”.
Nandlall highlighted that the posture adopted by the Finance Minister came on the heels of Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman’s statement that Guyanese need to stop lamenting the heavy tax burdens imposed by the budget and “get busy”, as well as their outright refusal to meet with the Private Sector Commission and the labour movement to discuss the 2017 budgetary measures.
At his year-end press conference on Monday, Jordan said the company – Homestretch Development Inc (HDI), which was clandestinely established with the purpose of collecting monies for the Jubilee Park Project, still owes approximately $298 million to contractors.
Government on December 14 approved an additional $500 million to be paid out from the Consolidated Fund to HDI, to pay a number of contractors and other persons owed varying amounts for works done on the D’Urban Park Project.
Jordan maintained that Government would not be releasing any more monies and, therefore, contractors were likely to be underpaid.
“Government indicated that it can only accommodate the $500 million as the full and final settlement. What that means is that HDI will have to pay some apportionment relative to the debts owed. This is a ‘take it or leave it’ situation.
If you were owed $2 million by HDI, and it works out that you will only get paid $1.2 million, then you could either accept $1.2 million as the full and final settlement or you could sue HDI,” the Finance Minister explained.
The Minister refused to expand on his proposal for the disgruntled contractors to file a lawsuit against the company, shutting down further questions on the matter.
“I don’t want to answer any more questions on this,” he expressed, noting that he would only disclose information relative to the financial aspect of the D’Urban Park scandal.
It is assumed that the company does not generate its own revenue since it relied on monies from donations and from the public purse for the construction of D’Urban Park.
President David Granger had described HDI as a “special purpose” company, set up with the sole purpose of overseeing the D’Urban Park development.
It is, therefore, puzzling who would finance legal proceedings if HDI is sued for underpaying the contractors.
