20 pieces of silver and betrayal on our minds

Dec 11, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Now that someone finally, “let the cat out of the bag” on the signing bonus Government collected from Exxon, the rats seem to be running in all directions. The waters of the famous Jordan seems parted—revealing skeletons of deceit—not of Pharaoh’s lost chariots but of the Titanic web of lies that the Coalition Government weaved on the Guyanese public.
This is one of the most colossal and deceptive blunders ever made by any Government in Guyana—back home in England where I belong, a moral Government would have resigned for such deception to its constituents. Not in Guyana! Not the present Coalition Government! They are famous for defending their blunders with some of the most asinine verbiage that you could ever comprehend as excuses.
The Natural Resources Minister said he is not ashamed- “We set aside money (signing bonus) to pay lawyers and to handle the court case” with Venezuela.
“We asked for the money as a bonus, Exxon did not know that we were going to use it for that purpose.”
Did Exxon inquire about the purpose for the bonus and did they lie to Exxon? This is vague. I don’t envision Exxon should have a problem with a bonus to shore up the territory where it discovered 2.8 billion barrels of oil.
Trotman said that the Government was advised not to make the collection of the money public. Was it Exxon or the presidential adviser on oil and gas? Who else, does the Government takes advice from? After his rigmarole, Trotman sought to take credit for a good deed done to the nation by saying, “It was I who went back to Cabinet and told them we cannot continue like this.” Ludicrously unbelievable!
The famous Jordan after dismissing claims of a signing bonus as, “a figment of the imagination” and asserting that there is “no agreement for any bonus” had no intention of swallowing it up, all alone in parliament at the 2018 Budget Debate.
His response was, “We don’t care. If whoever leaked it felt that that is the approach to how government business is done, well so be it.”
We really have to work fast to enact laws to protect whistle blowers! You could literally smell the hatred emanating from that comment to the whistle blower. Notice! It is, “we” and not I don’t care. It is funny! When people lie and the walls begin to collapse on them, they try to throw the weight on others.
From the letter dated 20th September 2016, Gobind Ganga was advised that the account should not be considered as the bank’s reserves and should be held in US dollars and invested in secured interest- bearing securities. So they wanted interest too!
The letter itself is incriminating evidence to the charge of conspiracy to defraud the state. The letter did not state the amount of the bonus. They are saying that the bonus was US$18 million. Can we really believe them now? Could it have been a larger amount and portion or portions were siphoned off elsewhere?
There is need for an independent investigation- outside of government or presidential influence. The mysteries of the quintet plus one travels to Exxon HQ is still to be unravelled. Exxon needs to produce its records of the signing bonus.
Jordan could have been telling the truth when he said that there is “no AGREEMENT for any bonus.” Monies could have been passed outside of Exxon’s books. When one looks at the Environment Impact Agreement (EIA) where Exxon is not liable for any accidental oil spill-signed by the Government, Guyanese need to remember — the twenty pieces of silver; betrayal clouds the normal mind.
Rudolph Singh

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