OGGN Part 2: Is the OGGN adhering to the provisions of 501(c) (3)?

Dear Editor,
Reference is made to the Oil and Gas Governance Network’s (OGGN) letter dated July 29th, 2023, published in the Kaieteur News and Stabroek News. The letter was a response to concerns this author raised surrounding the organisation’s legitimacy.
Many of the concerns, however, remained unanswered. The only matter the OGGN sought to confirm is that it is a registered organisation, and it has been granted the status of 501 (c) (3) by the IRS. So, on this note, I thank the OGGN Directors for their response.
Notwithstanding, I wish to point out to the general public that the OGGN’s activities remain highly questionable to the point where it appears that the organisation is in violation of the 501 (c) (3) requirements in accordance with the United States tax laws.
To this end, the IRS publication 4220 (Rev.3-2018) Catalogue Number 37053T Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service, prescribed the disclosure requirements for 501 (c) (3) organisations. The disclosure requirements are stated as follows:
“Public Inspection of Exemption Applications and Returns – Section 501 (c) (3) organizations must make their applications (Form 1023 or Form 1023-EZ) and the annual returns (Form 990, or Form 990-EZ or Form 990-PF), available to the public for inspection, upon request and without charge (except for a reasonable charge for copying). Each annual return must be made available for a three-year period starting with the filing date of the return. For tax years beginning after August 17, 2006, Section 501 (c) (3) organizations that file unrelated business income tax returns (Form 990-T) must make them available for public inspection. Organizations should not include private information of donors or other individuals, such as a Social Security number, in any information return.”
Moreover, non-profit organisations in the United States are required to make their financial statements available to the public. Form 990 includes a nonprofit’s figures for revenue, expenses, assets, and liabilities, and all 501(c) (3) nonprofits are required to submit Form 990 to the IRS annually. The form also includes the salaries of the directors, officers, and executives of the corporation.
Further to note, nonprofit organisations such as the OGGN are required to make this information available to the public with the idea being that nonprofits are created to serve the public interest and therefore should remain transparent for accountability purposes.
Interestingly, the OGGN Directors did not disclose the foregoing information other than to state that they are a registered organisation and that they are required to file their tax returns. The fact remains that the OGGN is obligated to do more than just state but to publicly disclose its tax return filings and its financial statements. I would also like the Guyanese public to have the opportunity to scrutinise the OGGN’s Bylaws which are not public since the OGGN anointed itself as an organisation that represents the Guyanese public’s interest.
As argued in my previous letter to the media, the OGGN has arguably departed from its stated mission. How is it that they are educating the Guyanese? By doing what? By seeking to sabotage and block monies earned from the sale of carbon credit? By seeking to stop the production of oil in Guyana (Melinda Janki et al)? Can the OGGN provide one example of an oil-producing country anywhere in the world, where the Government successfully managed to renegotiate a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) that is less than three years into production versus closer to its expiration or after? Can the OGGN tell the Guyanese people what happened to Venezuela, which is the only country I am aware of that sought to do exactly what the OGGN is advocating for, and wherein Venezuela was ordered to pay the oil companies, namely ExxonMobil, and its co-venture partner US$40 billion for the economic loss. To put this into perspective, Guyana doesn’t have US$40 billion in the bank. Guyana’s GDP as of the end of 2022 stood at US$14 billion. Hence, the sum that Venezuela was ordered to compensate the oil companies is almost three times the size of the Guyanese economy. Do they want to bankrupt Guyana and push its people into poverty as in the case of Venezuela?
It is perplexingly worrying when the OGGN claims that it represents the Guyanese interests and that its mission is to obtain a greater benefit for the Guyanese people. Yet, when one examines their work, the ramifications of their lobbying position would actually be far more harmful and, I dare say, detrimental to the country and its people. It is for this precise reason that I have taken it upon myself to challenge the OGGN and expose their hidden modus operandi.
And lastly, what’s even worse and perhaps laughable, is that the OGGN invited the Guyanese public to peruse its work on its website. The OGGN, if it was true to its mission, ought to have been producing technical articles and scholarly work. The reality is such that OGGN’s work is the absolute inverse of this concept. The Directors produce largely biased opinionated pieces, and none of them whatsoever are supported with any iota of scientific and/or empirical evidence.
I end by asking, what is the hidden agenda of the OGGN?

Yours respectfully,
Joel Bhagwandin