Troubled Specialty Hospital…Surendra denies submitting fake bank guarantee

Sep 12, 2014 News

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– says Govt. to be blamed for delays

Troubled Indian contractor, Surendra Engineering Corporation Limited (SECL), has denied tendering a fake bank guarantee for the Turkeyen specialty hospital.

Managing Director, Brijen Parikh, in a statement issued yesterday said that, “all such allegations of fraud or financial irregularities are completely baseless and without any merit.”
Two days ago, Government announced that it was moving to sack Surendra after it discovered that the company, back in March, submitted a fake bond security, a requirement for state contracts. The bond is needed in case something goes wrong and Government has to recoup monies from the contractor.
Government also said it was also looking to recover any monies it may have overpaid the company. The matter will also be placed in the hands of the police.
Another probe has reportedly been launched by Office of the President into the supply of US$4M in drainage pumps that Surendra has. Government has not said definitively that all the 14 pumps are here.
Since being awarded the US$18.1M contract in the latter half of 2012, Surendra received US$4.2M, representing mobilization payments and for work done. Government said it has been meeting with Surendra several times after the Ministry of Health and its supervising consultant of the project, Vikab Engineering, discovered the apparent fake guarantee.
Government has withheld all monies since March and one sub-contractor, BK International, is now claiming that it is owed over $400M for driving piles during the foundation stage.
BK also claimed that Parikh skipped the country without honoring a court judgment of $180M for outstanding monies in the hospital project. But the company yesterday said that it has seen the statements of Government and will be consulting its lawyers to determine the “future course of any legal action against the Government of Guyana”.

POLITICAL MOTIVES?
“We trust that the Government of Guyana will not feel pressurized to commit any act or do anything which has the effect of jeopardizing the project either for any political compulsions or for any other ulterior motives.”
SECL said it has received a letter from the Office of the President of Guyana.
“The said letter contains certain allegations which we strongly denied. SECL is not aware of the document (bond security) and has not provided any such document as referred to in the reports in respect of Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Surendra said it is a 40-year-old company, with vast experience and expertise in engineering and construction. It said it has “successfully designed, constructed and completed more than 100 projects in 33 countries worldwide and also completed project in Guyana. The capability of the firm was never in question as is evident from history”.

Regarding the hospital project, Surendra said it has over the past two years, been working relentlessly for the progress of the Specialty Hospital Project and has invested a huge amount of resources in terms of time, money and manpower, and continues to stay committed to see the project completely through.
The company said it is owed several million US dollars from the Government in respect of work done at the site so far.
“The Government of Guyana is fully aware that the reasons for delays in the project are solely because of its own failure to meet its own obligations under the contract. The stoppage of work was only because of failure or neglect on part of the Government of Guyana from fulfilling its obligations.”

DESPERATE ATTEMPT
Surendra said it is convinced that the stance of the Government can only be interpreted as a desperate attempt to “wriggle” out of its commitments towards the project.
“SECL reserves all its rights to pursue all such remedies as may be advised,” said Parikh in the statement.
On Wednesday, Health Minister, Dr. Bheri Ramsaran, and Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, disclosed that a company from India has been granted a local injunction by local courts which bars Government from releasing any more monies on the hospital project to Surendra. This was after the company was granted a judgment against the contractor in India.
The Central Bank of Trinidad has denied issuing the security bond.
Both the hospital project and the pump deal have been generating anger from the Opposition which questioned the award of the contracts. Not only has Surendra not shown a history in the pump business, but it has never built a hospital.
Another Indian company, which Government insists did not meet the criteria in the tendering of the hospital contract, had complained about the award to Surendra to lawmakers in the Indian Parliament.
Surendra itself seemed to have been cutting corners, resisting attempts to have site insurance in place, instead saying that the coverage of BK International was enough.
The Indian High Commission and the EX-IM Bank, which is funding the project, have been apprised of the situation.
Government at the moment is also unclear on whether it lost monies, as an on-the-ground assessment is needed of the work that has been done.  It is unlikely, too, that any work will be done soon, as talks will have to be held between the Indian Government and Guyana on the way forward.
Government said that there is nothing blocking Fedders Lloyd, the lowest bidder in 2012, from putting in a tender if the contract is up for bids again.
The awarding of the pump and hospital contracts has been heavily defended by Government, which criticized the Opposition and even the media of deliberately attempting to shut investors out.

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