Convicted drug trafficker/deportee hired as Manager of GWI’s Debt Recovery Unit

Aug 21, 2016 News

As questions continue over the granting of fuel licences to the head of the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI),

GWI’s head, Dr. Richard Van-West Charles

Dr. Richard Van-West Charles, another scandal is brewing at the state-owned entity.
According to details now emerging, a close friend and business partner of the Chief Executive, was hired last year as Manager in the all-sensitive Debt Recovery Unit. That unit handles tens of millions each year collected from delinquent customers.
However, it seems that GWI failed to conduct proper background checks of the Manager, Lear Goring. They missed the very pertinent fact that Goring was convicted by US authorities in the 1990s before being deported twice- the last time in the early 2000s.
According to US court files, Goring was convicted twice of drug trafficking in 1990s. In the first instance, after a conviction, he was deported in 1993 to Guyana. Not to be daunted, he used a forged passport to travel back in 1995 – again with drugs.
Again he was caught. In 1996, he changed his not guilty plea after an agreement with prosecutors and the New York court sentenced him to 63 months in the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix, New Jersey.
It is unclear if he was deported before his sentence of actual jail time, which amounted to 48 months, ended.
What is known is that between January and June, 2002, he was deported yet again from the US.
Goring’s name surfaced last week after he was named with Van West Charles, his current boss at GWI, as being a director of Atlantic Fuels Inc. That company was granted a fuel import and storage licence last November.

No background checks? – Lear Goring

The revelations of the licences immediately raised concerns, with questions asked if Van-West Charles’ connections to the Coalition Government was what tipped the company that applied.
Local documents filed in the Deeds and Commercial Registry disclosed that in June last year, weeks after the coalition, Van-West Charles, a former minister within the People’s National Congress (PNC), and his close friend, Goring, became directors for Atlantic Fuels. The other partners are Andron and Ronaldo Alphonso, close relatives of business magnate, Alfro Alphonso.
In late September, applications were filed with the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) for the licences. The licences were issued five weeks later.
In October, Van-West Charles became the Chief Executive of GWI, a state-owned entity that is charged with providing potable water to homes across the country. Shortly after, he hired Goring, a business partner, to head the Debt Recovery Unit.
The GWI’s head had come under fire last year for the hiring of Goring and another ‘friend’, Lance Mars. Both positions were reportedly not advertised.
The GWI’s boss had reportedly said that both men were known to him personally.
He reportedly said that he needed someone “competent” to deal with the debt at the state company. But Goring was not hired because he is a friend.
“He had applied to GWI and I know him…but I know many people in the organization, so it’s an area that I have responsibility for and…we have shown results already; in the month and a half, we have collected over $50M already in terms of the level of indebtedness, so I am satisfied with his performance,” Dr Van West Charles noted in a statement to an online news.
Back in December, Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, was asked to comment on the posts being filled without advertisements. He reportedly said that it is a non-issue, as long as the men were qualified.
“Well they are qualified…let me say this… Guyana is a small country and we have to utilize the resources that are available to us…everybody is somebody’s friend,” said Harmon.
With regards to those lucrative fuel licences, GEA last week in response to questions by Kaieteur News, disclosed that indeed the application came in late September and was granted on November 5th, 2015.
GEA said that all was above board when it came to the application and that Atlantic Fuels listed the storage facility of another authorized company in its application…not something unusual.
Fuel has been rivaling gold when it comes to generating ready cash. It is big business.

2 thoughts on “Convicted drug trafficker/deportee hired as Manager of GWI’s Debt Recovery Unit”

rs dasai August 22, 2016 at 12:57 pm

remember Kerrick?
rs dasai August 22, 2016 at 12:59 pm

Sinc.
it is a good thing only when you do it by yourself without risk to others..