Over 800,000 lbs of chicken to be imported by year-end
GWI Managing Director, Dr Richard Van West-Charles
– Van West-Charles among those granted licence
A local chicken farm
The Guyana Government has granted several licences to import close to one million pounds of chicken for the latter half of 2016 and among the recipients are Managing Director of Guyana Water Inc, Dr Richard Van West-Charles and fired Debt Recovery Manager Lear Goring.
Guyana Development Associates is among the companies granted a licence to import chicken and is jointly owned by Van West-Charles and Goring.
That company was registered on July 27, 2015. Its address is registered as Lot 301 Meadowbrook Gardens, Georgetown. The company is among a list of 19 businesses/individuals who were recipients of the second batch of import licences to bring into the country some 884,000 pounds of chicken for 2016.
GWI’s Internal Auditing Department is currently investigating Dr Van West-Charles over a litany of complaints and decisions, including the hiring of Goring in a position that he created.
Goring was employed by Dr Van West-Charles, the son-in-law of former President Forbes Burnham, as a Debt Recovery Manager, and was paid a monthly salary $263,000 in addition to a $20,000 allowance.
Goring came to prominence recently when it was found that he and the entity’s Managing Director, Dr Richard Van West-Charles, were also both Directors of Atlantic Fuels Inc – an entity which was issued with a fuel licence.
Goring was also found to have been twice convicted of drug trafficking and was similarly deported on both occasions from the United States of America (USA).
He was fired after the Board of Directors decided that “Mr Goring’s credentials do not satisfy the requirements outlined for the position.”
Meanwhile, The importation of chicken has always been a controversial issue in Guyana as some importers have been very unscrupulous in the quality of chicken brought onto the local market. Only recently, the Law Enforcement and Investigation Division (LEID) of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) seized millions of dollar worth of chicken, which was smuggled to Guyana via Suriname.
A number of local farmers are upset at the Government’s decision to grant chicken import licence citing the fact that they have adequate supplies for the local market demand. Some local producers queried exactly how 19 companies were granted licenses by the Government without any consultation with the local industry. This publication was told that such a move by the Government will have devastating consequences on local chicken producers and the feed industry.
