PPP to file legal action for transfer into Consolidated Fund

US$18M oil bonus

…debunks Govt’s excuse on private account

One week after a private citizen filed a legal challenge seeking to have Government transfer the ExxonMobil US$18 million signing bonus into the Consolidated Fund, the Opposition PPP/C party has announced that it would also be moving to the courts on this matter.

At a press conference on Friday, PPP/C Leader Bharrat Jagdeo made this announcement as he debunked the Government’s excuse for holding the funds outside of the Consolidated Fund.
Government has said that the money was kept in a private account to pay legal fees for Guyana should it have to take its border case with Venezuela to the International Court of Justice.
“We said to this Government, ‘If you need US$100 million (for) the legal fees to fight our case at the ICJ against Venezuela, the PPP will be the first to support it…to pay as much money (as required)’,” Jagdeo affirmed.
He added that there is no need to keep the money outside of the Consolidated Fund.
“So they don’t need to keep money outside (of the Consolidated Fund). That’s an excuse (legal fees) to keep it outside the Consolidated Fund.
“And by the way, I saw TIGI file an action against it (Govt), and we plan to join that action, cause we were contemplating filing but we heard that civil society would file. And so we will file to have the money paid into the Consolidated Fund, because it is illegally there (in a separate account),” the Opposition Leader said.
Jagdeo also pointed out that while the Government is scrambling to siphon money from the budgets of other agencies in order to pay former Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) workers their severance, this money (US$18 million) is just sitting there.

Jagdeo is contending that the Government’s intention was always to hide the money, but they were caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar.
Oil bonus
The bonus in question was paid to the Government’s Central Bank account by US oil giant ExxonMobil in 2016. The existence of this bonus and the renegotiated oil agreement with the company was kept a secret until evidence of the transaction was leaked in December 2017.
The correspondence of September 20, 2016 which was leaked to the media was addressed to the Governor of the Bank of Guyana with the subject being, “Signing bonus granted by ExxonMobil – Request to open bank account”.
It showed Finance Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Hector Butts, requesting that a foreign currency account be opened at the Bank in order to receive a deposit in the form of a ‘signing bonus’ to be given by the oil company.
The letter stated, “This account should not be treated as part of the Bank’s reserves. Instead, the proceeds should be held in the currency of the deposit, that is, United States dollars, and invested in secured interest-bearing securities.”
After mounting criticism, President David Granger defended the transaction by saying it was the thing to do at the time. He also noted that the money was placed in an escrow account, though observers have disputed this.
After the fact, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman also defended the secrecy by saying the money would be used to defend Guyana’s sovereignty in the legal process.
At present, Guyana is awaiting a ruling from the United Nations Secretary General on whether or not the country would have to proceed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In the meantime, however, this sum of money remains outside of the Consolidated Fund.
Head of Transparency Institute of Guyana, Troy Thomas, took the Government to court last week in his private capacity. The action was filed on his behalf by Attorney-at-Law Christopher Ram in the High Court.
He wants the court to grant orders directing Finance Minister Winston Jordan to deposit this money directly into the Consolidated Fund, as is provided for in the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA).
When the matter was called, however, the challenge had to be retracted after Chief Justice Roxanne George had ruled that the litigation’s format was flawed. It now has to be refiled and served on all parties before the court can proceed.