Dennis ‘Smoothie’ Adonis sets up another confidence trick

Apr 11, 2017 News

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…creates oil and gas school
Controversial figure, Dennis Adonis, popularly known as ‘Smoothie’ has struck once again – this time he

is offering courses in the oil and gas sector at a cost of US$1980.
Registered on February 13, last, as the Oil and Gas Academy, the entity is offering programmes in petroleum exploration, petroleum geology, petroleum economics and management and petroleum accounting over a six months period.
The courses are allegedly being offered in partnership with a US-based university with the cost ranging from US$520 to US$1980.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a statement urging persons desirous of pursuing courses in the oil and gas industry to do their own due diligence to verify the legitimacy of these fly-by-night institutions.
The Ministry’s warning would come after an investigation unearthed online courses being offered by unaccredited sources and at least one unaccredited Georgetown-based organization soliciting persons to join the institution.
After the statement was released, this newspaper was informed of a similar institution opened at Lot 154 Charlotte and King Streets, Georgetown, which is known as “Sharon’s Building”.
Executing a covert operation at the location yesterday, Kaieteur News was told that the Oil and Gas Academy is not an instructional institution but rather a portal through which persons who wish to study courses in the oil and gas sector can be linked to overseas institutions, one being the University of Texas.
Speaking with one of the employee at the location, Kaieteur News learnt that persons who wish to study courses offered at the US University, can do so online. She said that when prospective students would have paid for the course, they will receive their ‘log-in’ information and connect with the university’s website.
She said that the maximum time for courses being offered is six months; the shortest is three months. The work can be done at the students’ convenience but must be completed within the stipulated duration. When the course comes to an end, the Oil and Gas Academy will provide a facility for the students to do their final examinations. The facility is not fixed but will vary based on the number of students sitting the exams.

Payments are to be made through the Oil and Gas Academy. The application is processed, after which the applicant is told whether they would have been accepted or not. Applications are processed at any time but courses are offered based on cycles.
Further, the application process is initiated online and is followed up by the prospective student signing a physical form which would contain the specific arrangement based on the courses being sought. At this stage, the student would receive his or her receipts.
According to the employee, the intention of the Oil and Gas Academy is to get international students interested in pursuing studies with the US University by offering these courses. Persons who choose to register now will be in the first batch of students registering with the Texas University through this local firm.
Kaieteur News was unable to ascertain how many students would have already registered. When the question was posed as to who was running the Academy, this newspaper was told that there are a number of people at the helm.
Further, the employee said that it is the institution’s policy not to give out information about employees and management. Unsatisfied that a simple name could not be provided, that information was sought elsewhere and it was confirmed that the school is indeed owned by Adonis.
The man has been at the centre of a number of scandals. In 2010 the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) was forced to distance itself from Adonis who had registered a company called SimNet Caribbean Mobile.
The company had claimed to be offering high speed internet on a United Kingdom 3G USB modem. The modem was said to be small and compact similar to a USB flash drive and can work on laptops, desktop computers and 2.0 internet devices.
On the company’s website, it was said that it is a third generation internet service provider and regional communications management company founded by Adonis in 2009 who claimed to be a software engineer.
The company had said that it was in discussion with GTT to provide bandwidth to customers. However, the telecommunications company said that it was never in discussion with Adonis or his company.
In 2009, Adonis was in the news when he advertised a professional wrestling event called “Guyana Wrestle Mania” to be held at the National Park.
It was advertised that a number of international World Wrestling Federation athletes would have been in action. However, businesses that were associated with the event had eventually pulled out and the event never took place despite persons already purchasing tickets.
Further, in September 2010, Adonis was implicated in the kidnapping of an 18 year old female employee of GTT. The very Adonis collected money from hapless young women ostensibly to train them as flight attendants. A few were sent to Barbados where they were left to their own devices. They managed to get relatives to pay for their return to Guyana.
Other scams include the Royal Antigua money transfer service – which collected people’s money from overseas but failed to deliver in Guyana – and numerous so-called training schemes.
Adonis was in November last year threatened with a $500M lawsuit from the Texila American University for defamatory publication about the institution on his news website ‘The Guyana Guardian’. Adonis is the Editor-in-Chief for the news outfit. The Guardian had published that the University was not accredited; however these claims were later debunked. Similar to the Academy, the news agency’s office is located on the third floor of Sharon’s building.

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