…adds that findings warrants further investigations
After the Coalition Government accused international oil and gas anti-corruption watchdog – Global Witness of attempting to influence the outcome of the March 02 General and Regional Elections, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is making it clear that they had no role to in getting the Non-Governmental Organisation here.
Speaking at his weekly press briefing, Opposition Leader and General Secretary of the PPP/C, Bharrat Jagdeo labelled the report as damning and demanded further investigations.
He noted that the report pointed out, to the entire world and particularly Guyanese, the ineptitude, incompetence and the duplicity of this government during the renegotiation of the contract with ExxonMobil. He added that Guyanese were much underserved during the negotiations since there were glaring conflicts of interest as well as Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman disregard expert advice.
“The People’s Progressive Party did not bring Global Witness here. We have no such power over Global Witness which is an international NGO and I suspect that their presence here was largely triggered by this government’s own act when it said that SARA (State Assets Recovery Agency) will investigate not the ExxonMobil contract or the Tullow give away contract – where there is zero royalty but it wanted to investigate all contracts that were signed under the PPP,” Jagdeo told reporters.
“This is the very government that hangs on tenaciously to every drop of positive that any international organisation mentions about Guyana to prove the case that they are doing a good job. We have seen them doing that with several organisations. Just a couple weeks ago Transparency International had positive news on Guyana on the Corruption Perception Index…they were busy touting this organisation as being great but when other credible organisations have, for example, this to say this report suddenly they are not to believed or they’re people from the PPP,” he added.
The report, titled “Signed away” was written by Global Witness, a US-based Non-Governmental Organisation with a long track record of exposing corruption and human rights abuses. Among its recommendations was for Guyana’s Government to investigate the role played by Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman in brokering the deal. It also indicated that Guyana stands to lose US$55 billion in revenues.
The report expressed concern over the lacklustre negotiations on Guyana’s behalf and blames the Minister for not representing Guyana’s interests.
The report states that Trotman arrived at Exxon’s headquarters in Texas in April 2016, whereupon he was put up first class in a nearby hotel and dined at an exclusive restaurant – all on ExxonMobil’s tab.
The company, according to Global Witness, had given Guyana 10 weeks to sign a new draft licence. The watchdog stated that there is evidence that Guyana’s team negotiated badly on the country’s behalf. When it comes to Trotman himself, the report noted that he did not spend much time negotiating at all.
The entire process, from when negotiations began in early April, concluded with a signed deal on June 27.
Jagdeo noted the findings warrants further investigations to get answers.
“Guyana did not get its fair share of its deal, that’s the key point. You can differ on the number (we stand to lose)…I don’t know what the number is but we need to find out. Global Witness is not going to be accusing people just like that. They raised a few questions,” he said.
The former President said that the PPP/C’s finding of conflict of interest was reiterated by Global Witness.
“Global Witness’s report pointed out the refusal of expert advice. Trotman refused the advice totally and this is really bad. The weekend before they signed the deal they sent the agreement to two experts and both of those experts said to him do not rush, at least we should await the announcement of the results of Liza 2 which would put you in a stronger negotiating position. He refused that and signed the agreement on the same day that Exxon was supposed to announce the results of Liza 2. They rushed to do this,” he stated.
The Government said that the Global Witness in its report maliciously attempted to discredit officials of the Government including Trotman, who was part of a Cabinet approved Government of Guyana delegation, on an official visit to Houston. It also said that the report was heavily reliant on innuendo and conjecture.
“Further still, Global Witness was unable to establish any corruption or malpractice whatsoever on the part of Government, or any of its officials. At all material times, officials of the Government of Guyana acted with the knowledge and authority of the Cabinet and on the basis of credible advice. Not having been able to establish any corruption, Global Witness then pivots and engaged in a flight of fancy. The figure of $55B is random, arbitrary and highly speculative.
“In fact, the people of Guyana are assured of earning tens of billions of United States dollars in the years ahead and would have unprecedented and bountiful amounts for investment in their wages and salaries, pensions, education, health care, security, infrastructure, sea defence, agriculture, hinterland development and for future generations through Guyana’s already established Natural Resource Fund,” the Government said.
