Ramotar refutes claim of waiver on remaining US$5M

Sale of GT&T shares

By Devina Samaroo

Former President Donald Ramotar is outright rejecting claims that there was a “side deal” debt write-off with the Chinese Telecoms Company that bought the Guyana Government’s 20 per cent shares in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T).
“I am saying explicitly that there was no such agreement or transaction. This is another attempt to try to damage the reputation of the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Government,” he stated during an interview with Guyana Times on Saturday.
Ramotar said it is quite amusing that the Government’s story on the whereabouts of the money has suddenly changed and in this regard, he is demanding that the A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) present evidence to support whichever of the claims they chose to defend.

Two stories

In 2012, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) disposed of its 20 per cent shares in the sale to Hong Kong Golden Telecom Company Limited (HKGT) to the tune of US$30 million.
The company paid down US$25 million and the outstanding US$5 million was to be paid on October 22, 2014, but it never did despite several written requests by NICIL.
While pointing out that the information is yet to be authenticated, NICIL claimed that Guyana’s former Ambassador to China, David Dabydeen facilitated the US$5 million debt waiver with the Chinese Company on the grounds that it was not granted the same minority protection rights enjoyed by NICIL (that is, two instead of one, representatives on the GT&T Board of Directors).
Prior to these allegations, Government had exclaimed that it is in possession of documentation proving that the Chinese company did indeed pay off its debt owed to Guyana long before the May 11, 2015 General and Regional Elections and that the monies were missing.
Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman during a post-Cabinet press briefing had told media operatives that Minister of State Joseph Harmon had retrieved documents during his recent trip to China and that Government is trying to “track down” the nature of that transaction since the monies could not be found.
Ramotar, under whose tenure the Government disposed of its 20 per cent shares, has since refuted those claims, insisting that his Administration never received a single dollar from the Chinese company on its remaining balance on US$5 million.
He is also now dismissing the claims that there was a shady debt write-off.
“They are making claims without any basis. It is absolutely untrue… It is not a question of whether or not I am aware of such an agreement, I am telling you that there was no such arrangement to write-off those monies,” he firmly posited.

Evidence
Ramotar contended that the Government will soon trip over its own web of lies if it continues to levy wild accusations against the former Administration.
“They are only contradicting themselves. First they are saying that the have evidence that the money was paid, trying to insinuate corruption. Now they are saying that the money was not paid… NICIL is a public company, Government is the boss of it. The Finance Minister is the Chairman of NICIL,” Ramotar asserted.
In this regard, he challenged the Government to bring the evidence to support whichever claims they will be defending.

Extension
Providing more insight on the sale agreement, Ramotar said the Chinese company had approached NICIL requesting an extension to pay off the US$5 million however no decision was ever taken on the matter.
“There was no decision and it could not have happened without my approval,” he stated.

No payment
In its statement, NICIL conceded that no payment of the outstanding US$5 million was ever received from the Chinese company, contrary to what the Government had initially claimed.
The entity noted that it had written the Chinese company on a number of occasions requesting the money, however to no avail.
“In an attempt to avoid costly and lengthy adjudication of the matter in the English courts, NICIL requested the assistance of the Government of Guyana to encourage HKGT through diplomatic channels, to honour its contractual obligations,” NICIL stated.
NICIL also pointed out that the Chinese company never alleged that the balance was paid. With regards to the “side deal”, NICIL said it is yet to verify the veracity of HKGT’s claim and has since requested the assistance of the Government to verify the validity of those assertions.