Tr i n i d a d – b a s e d Commissiong and Company Limited (CCL) is demanding in excess of $84 million in losses it incurred after the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GuyOil) terminated its contract with the entity for the construction of two storage tanks here. In a letter dated November 14, 2019, that was sent by Attorney-at- Law Anil Nandlall on behalf of the Trinidadian company, GuyOil’s Company Secretary and Legal Officer, Lissa McTaire-Jones, was informed that they have 14 days to pay the estimated amount of losses in full otherwise, they will face legal proceedings. The State-owned oil company entered in the contract with CCL on May 24, 2019, for the execution, fabrication and erection of two 10,000-barrel storage tanks at GuyOil Terminal Providence, East Bank Demerara. However, on October 7, GuyOil prematurely ended the agreements. GuyOil’s Chief Executive Officer, Renatha Exeter, had subsequently explained that the termination of the threepart contract was a decision taken by the company’s Board of Directors after the Trinidadian company failed to put bank guarantees or bonds through a local bank. She denied claims that it was as a result of a failed bribery attempt to extort money from the Trinidadian company. But days later, leaked documents revealed that CCL was in fact approached by a senior official from the State-owned company, who requested money. According to documents seen by this newspaper, the GuyOil employee informed Commissiong Managing Director, Nirmala Rambharat, that the payments were on behalf of a senior official within the Finance Ministry. The leaked email shows that Rambharat complained that she “received a call from a woman [name withheld]… she had asked me to pay to her 20 per cent of the contract value before the advance payment could be made. She also indicated this was not for her but for the [name withheld] and she urge me to pay the payment to her and then the advance payments can be made to my company.” Rambharat refused to make the extra payments, noting in the correspondence that she informed GuyOil that her profit margin was 10 per cent of the contract price and that since the company was new to Guyana, its rates were designed to introduce Guyana to its service. Commissiong also noted in correspondence with GuyOil’s legal department that the company holds no local collateral. In the correspondence, dated September 11, 2019, the Trinidadian company requested that GuyOil make its advance payments within 14 days so that the project could be started. “A few days after, the Facilities Manager, Mr Nascimento, sent me an email stating that the advance payment bonds were rejected and I have to produce local bonds. I explained to him that my company is an international company and has no collateral in Guyana… neither the contract document never stipulated a local bond which is impossible for an international company to do. On Monday GuyOil sent a letter terminating all my contracts with them.” Moreover, Rambharat revealed in the correspondence that other Trinidadian contractors that provided services to GuyOil confirmed that they paid the GuyOil official 20 per cent of their contract values upon similar request – something which she refused to follow suit with. As such, the Trinidadian company is now looking to recover the thousands of US dollars it invested in mobilisation efforts to execute the projects. With the contract between CCL and GuyOil pegged at $110,285,913, the Trinidadian company said the total sum outstanding for the value of the works done at the date of the termination is US$291,055.05 ($60,624,497.94). Added to this is the estimated loss of profits that the company incurred because of the premature ending of the contract. “As a result of GuyOil’s termination of the said contract, [CCL] has lost the profits that they would have made if the contract had been performed and this opportunity cost must be considered when tabulating their loss,” the attorney stated in the letter. On this note, another $23,542,886 was added to the company’s lost profits
