Guyana featured in bad light…Tourism Ministry eying ‘performance bond’ for entertainment promoters

Mar 30, 2014 News

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By Rehana Ahamad

In light of four Indian soap opera stars claiming to have been robbed by promoters in Guyana, the Ministry of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce is now looking to institute a ‘performance bond.’

According to subject Minister, Irfaan Ali, this initiative is being eyed as a means of ensuring that promoters and promotion groups are held to some level of responsibility.
“We are now looking at the whole issue, and we realize that something of the sort should be done,” Ali told this newspaper recently.
In explaining the procedures that organizers have to go through when bringing international artistes to Guyana, Ali said that they usually have to first become registered.
“Then they have to get the necessary permissions from GRA (Guyana Revenue Authority)… The promotion groups are private entities, but as long as they are registered, they can bring in artistes,” the Tourism Minister said.
This explanation was echoed by Head of the GRA, Khurshid Sattaur, who added that as long as the promotion group is registered and the required taxes are paid, promoters can bring in their artistes.
“That is about it. We don’t have a law for bringing in artistes. As long as they are registered and they follow the procedures, anybody can bring them,” Sattaur said.
He added, “There are also other requirements and permits that need to be followed, like from the police to say for how long the show will go on and so…these don’t have anything to do with us really though,” Sattaur pointed out.
The aforementioned Indian soap stars are Pavitra Rishta’s Rithvik Dhanjani (Arjun) and his co-star, Asha Negi (Purvi); Yahan Mein Ghar Ghar Kheli’s lead actress, Suhasi Dhami (Abha) and Choti Bahu’s Rubina Dilaik (Radhika). They arrived in Guyana on March 19, and departed in an irritable state of mind on March 24, last, after not being fully paid by promoters of Christine and Popo Entertainment.
Dhanjani, in a Tweet the day after performing at the Guyana National Stadium on March 23, said, “Worst experience with us is Guyana…because of the organizers- Christine and Popo entertainment. They haven’t paid people their due, including us.”
He further tweeted, “Never wanted my first experience in Guyana to be like this. Christine and Popo Entertainment deserve to be behind bars. Spread the word guys.”

The stars were scheduled to perform at three major ‘Bollywood Live with the Stars’ shows. Kaieteur News understands that despite being owed for the first event at the Tuschen Community Centre Ground, the actor and actresses showed up for the second show at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
They however cancelled the Berbice leg of their tour, which was scheduled for the following day, and left the country without receiving their full dues.
Following an article by this publication, the promoters, Christine Persaud and “Popo” held a press conference at the Princess Hotel, and did not invite Kaieteur News, the media entity to first break the news.
Persaud, during that media briefing, defended herself and partner “Popo,” by accusing the artistes of being greedy.
The woman apparently told reporters at the press conference that the stars saw the massive crowd at the Stadium from their Princess Hotel room and demanded that they be paid more money. She described the Kaieteur News article, which highlighted the cries of several artistes, including locals, as being “a fat lie.”
Persaud lamented that she was sabotaged, noting that thousands of tickets were sold for the shows, but the monies were not recovered.
The woman had said that she would be leaving the country to go back home to the United States of America, to arrange money to pay the several local entertainers and Anil Bheem and the BMRZ Band out of Trinidad and Tobago. They too left Guyana without collecting their payments.
However, Harrychand Sukhan, who was hired by Christine and Popo Entertainment to conduct promotional works here, managed to stop the woman from leaving. He has reportedly moved to the courts for an injunction to prohibit the woman’s departure from Guyana.
He believes that had she left, Persaud would have disappeared without repaying them.
The man explained that in addition to the monies owed to him for his service, the promoters also have to repay him some borrowed cash amounting to millions.
While Christine Persaud has been fingered in the operations of a fraudulent Nursing School in New York, her partner who goes only by “Popo” has a history of bad show business, especially in Trinidad and Tobago. He has also been accused of being a con artiste.
A few local entertainers, who have been working closely with Persaud, believe that the woman was indeed ripped off; not by the Indian soap stars, but the people she hired to manage the sale of tickets.
“Initially, she hired Popo and Popo in turn hired some other people, and many of believe that he and his employees might have been the ones to con her,” one performer told Kaieteur News.

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