Former partner used internet to fleece me’ – Investor says

Mar 16, 2014 News

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…believes Guyana’s image is being tarnished

A top local entrepreneur in the sand export business strongly believes that Guyana could suffer dire consequences with regard to future foreign investment if nothing is done to stop what he described as lies being peddled by his former partner, Brazilian Rodrigo de Paula.
Sri Lankan-born Canadian citizen, Joseph Bhaskaran, told a media conference yesterday that his former partner in the sand export business is on a campaign to ruin his business, while discrediting Guyana’s investment portfolio.
The Brazilian recently launched a video on the internet titled “Brazilian Victim

Investor in Guyana”, in which he claimed that Bhaskaran, using “corrupt state institutions”, caused him to lose $4B in investments, the Canadian said.
His latest move comes amidst several court actions he has initiated, some of which have been discharged, while others are still engaging the attention of local judges.
At one point the Brazilian used presidential guards to invade a disputed property at Coverden, since according to him he wanted to enforce a court order, which he claimed was being violated by Bhaskaran.
De Paula, a former partner of Bhaskaran, claims in the video, which is being channeled via Facebook and a private website, that he is a millionaire investor who was exploited by his partner who bribes the police, members of the judiciary and other state agencies to cheat him out of millions.
He accused Bhaskaran of misappropriating funds from the company he formed to export sand from Guyana to several Caribbean destinations.
De Paula also claimed that he pioneered the scrap metal and sand export businesses in Guyana, setting up two companies to do so, which he solely owned.
But according to Bhaskaran, the video is specially designed to manipulate and defame his character and that of his wife. It is also intended to destroy his businesses locally and internationally, Bhaskaran added.
“In this process he is creating a bad name for Guyana locally and internationally. This is a malicious, cowardly and selfish act by Rodrigo De Paula. We are strongly condemning this act committed by him,” Bhaskaran told members of the media.
He produced documentary evidence to show that all the claims made by his former partner were false.
With respect to de Paula’s claim that he invested millions in Guyana to build the sand export business, Bhaskaran produced and email sent to him by the Brazilian which showed otherwise.
The emails showed that Rodrigo De Paula was an employee of a Brazilian Company, Quimetal, which they represented to export scrap metal from Guyana to Brazil; he himself was not an investor.
The company had invested in the extension of an existing wharf on a plot of land at Coverden, East Bank Demerara to facilitate their scrap metal export business.

However, when that venture failed, de Paula sought out Bhaskaran to join with him in building a multi-million-dollar conveyor system for the sand export business, since he was still in control of the wharf.
But de Paula apparently had no funds of his own so he reportedly informed Bhaskaran that he will convince his bosses in Brazil to invest in the project.
“The email also shows that he could not get through with the money from the Company or any other source to send the money to build the conveyor,” Bhaskaran explained.
The businessman said that the email also revealed that “this millionaire investor was telling me that we will have to try to access funds from local banks for the project.”
This was after Bhaskaran had already gone ahead and spent his own funds to advance the project.
De Paula claimed in the video that he pioneered two businesses in Guyana: the scrap metal export business, which he said was responsible for clearing the local landscape of unwanted scraps, which littered several parts of Guyana.
However, the records will show that there were other persons involved in the business long before he came to this country in 2006.
“I know of four persons exporting scrap from Guyana — Netram, Delmur, Archer and Ken Shorts,” Bhaskaran disclosed.
With regards to the sand export business, he said that before de Paula came here were other companies such as Rambarran Shipping at Land of Canaan and previously Aroaima Mining Company at Sand Hills that were exporting the commodity.
Rodrigo de Paula also claimed that he is the owner of two (2) companies Start Metal Trading Inc. and Guyana Sandport Inc.
But according to his former partner, The Start Metal Trading does not show Rodrigo De Paula’s name on the registration document at the time it was registered.
In fact, the majority shareholder of the Company is Marcos Sequiera, who was an employee of the Company in Brazil named Quimetal. The other shareholder was Aldo Melendez (Fernando) who is still here.
Bhaskaran said that he is aware of this because he was the person who took them to his lawyer to register this Company in Guyana.
On the other hand, The Guyana Sand Port Inc., which is duly registered in Guyana, is owned 50-50 by Bhaskaran and de Paula, although the Brazilian claimed that he is the sole owner.
Bhaskaran produced documents to support his claim.
De Paula said that when he came to Guyana he met Bhaskaran as a caretaker of an abandoned and run down property at Coverden and that the man had no direction in life.
But at that time, Bhaskaran produced documentation which showed that he was in the midst of a Joint Venture Agreement with the owner of the land since 1999 and that he had already constructed a building, which housed a fish processing plant and he was in the process of constructing a sawmill which eventually commenced operations sometime later.
Bhaskaran maintained that despite de Paula’s claim, there was an existing wharf on the property and all that the Brazilian did was to get the company he was working for to extend the facility to accommodate the docking of vessels to load scrap metal for export to Brazil.
“The sand loading equipment—the Conveyor was financed and built by me,” he said.
He produced documents to show that he acquired the material for the conveyor after entering into an agreement with the government for the acquisition of tons of scrap metal from abandoned bauxite machinery.
De Paula also accused Bhaskaran of stealing money the Guyana Sandport Inc. to buy his home in Soesdyke in 2010 and also to purchase luxury vehicles. But according to the local entrepreneur, he is 50 per cent owner and Director of Guyana Sandport and therefore would not steal from himself. Additionally he showed documents to support that he owned his Soesdyke home since 2008.
Bhaskaran explained that the 50-50 partnership company Guyana Sandport Inc. was just a marketing company for the sand supplied by another company called JB mining, which is solely owned by Bhaskaran.
“JB MINING is the sole owner of the trucks, excavators, bulldozers and frontend loaders and loading conveyors and discharging conveyors. Its function is to mine the sand, transport the sand to the loading facility and stockpile and load it unto the vessels and discharge aggregate. This company sells sand to the marketing company Guyana Sandport Inc. on an FOB,” Bhaskaran explained.
He said that after the commission the marketing company began to dwindle as a result of falling prices for sand in light of growing competition in the sector. de Paula embarked on a scheme to join with a competitor and monopolise the industry. He intended to increase the price paid for the commodity.
First, he reportedly withdrew the funds from the bank account and called a phony board meeting at which he passed a resolution that removed Bhaskaran as a director of the company.
Of course that was illegal and when that effort failed, he began contacting customers and diverted barges to another facility operated by a competitor.
“I obtained an order from the Court and (continued) operated as the Director of Guyana Sandport Inc. in the meanwhile, I obtained a loan from a local bank and I move to my own facilities,” Bhaskaran stated.
But that did not stop his former partner.
“He went to seek injunction to shut me down at my new facility Guyana Quartz Sand Inc. at Block R Soesdyke, but the court refused to grant him.
“He filed a ridiculous lawsuit, which I am engaging all these matters in Court. Now he is attacking me through Internet through the video. He was terrorizing me, my family and my businesses for the past three years.
“His belief is by manipulating the court and media, he could extort money from me. This resulted in lots of pain and many sleepless nights, loss of money and affecting my productivity. I am seeking legal advice presently, to prevent him from further damaging me,” Bhaskaran stated.

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