Rejected Panama rice consignment... Former GRDB board member files criminal complaint

Rejected Panama rice consignment… Former GRDB board member files criminal complaint

Oct 05, 2018 News

The rice being examined in Panama, a few weeks ago.

A former member of the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) handed over a letter of complaint to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) yesterday about the false labelling on a large consignment of rice rejected by Panama.
Yesterday, Jinnah Rahman, an activist in the rice industry, was accompanied by retired rice miller and farmers’ advocate, Dr. Turhane Doerga
At the Office of the Commissioner of Police, Eve Leary, they handed over the letter of complaint.

Jinnah Rahman

They believe that there was collusion between a number of staffers of GRDB and a miller to ship rice that was not of the desired quality to Panama. The rice was rejected by Panama.
GRDB has to now replace the rice. The rejected consignment has to be shipped back to Guyana.
While GRDB has said it will carry out an audit of the containers of rice, other millers are calling for an independent probe.
Yesterday, Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, acknowledged that a “document” was handed over to his office.
He said that it has been sent to Deputy Commissioner of Law Enforcement, Lyndon Alves, for the contents to be examined and for a determination if there are causes for further actions.
The Top Cop also disclosed that if there are technical issues, the police may seek the intervention of the legal authorities.

Dr. Turhane Doerga

According to the letter seen by Kaieteur News, it was addressed to Commissioner James.
Rahman said he is writing as Co-chair of the RPA Action Committee, to request an investigation into a large consignment of rice that has been rejected by authorities in Panama.
The rice, the complaint said, was contained in more than 30 containers, equivalent to 80,000 bags of rice.
The former GRDB board member, who has been highly critical of the industry, said that the bags were sent in the containers to Panama but had the labels of Techno Mills, a company that is based in Eccles, East Bank Demerara.
Techno Mills has reportedly denied the labels belonged to them.
Rahman, in the letter, said that more than a month ago, the Panamanian port authorities took samples of rice from the containers and found out that they did not meet the requirements of the contract signed between Guyana and Panama. The contract stipulated white rice but white rice was not delivered.
The rice was for distribution to Panama’s poorest section of their community. The rice was supposedly sent by Mr. A. Cayume Hakh and Sons, a miller that has operations across the country.
“According to confidential reports, false labels were attached to the bags of rice that were in the 30-plus containers. There are strong indications of collusion at the Guyana Rice Development Board level, and there can be no other recourse than a police investigation, involving the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU),” Rahman wrote.
The official also told the Commissioner of Police that as a former member of the GRDB, he actively participated in the investigation that led to six top

Commissioner, Leslie James

former officials of the Board being charged.
“These ongoing investigations are likely to produce more than 100 other charges for various infractions committed against the government and people of Guyana.”
Rahman urged the Top Cop to allow its special unit, the Special Organised Crime Unit, to “add this new scandal to their list of matters pertaining to the wider issues of the GRDB and the rice industry”.
The Panama market is a prized one for Guyana with prices among the best.
It started in 2014 and would add to the renewed and other emerging markets like Mexico and Cuba.
However, the scandal is threatening to drag the handling of the Venezuela rice deal which came to a sudden end in 2015.
That deal went south after participating millers reportedly shipped poor quality rice and angered authorities there.
It was also thought that the deal ended because of a spiteful Venezuela government.
There have been calls for the revamping of GRDB with accusation of widespread discriminations by graders.
The containers rejected by millers number more than 30 and are expected to climb.
Officials here say that the Panama market is not in jeopardy.
GRDB says it has halted the shipments from Hakh rice millers.
The Hakh family control around eight millers across the country.
It is expected that a separate complaint may be filed as early with today for alleged breaches of the Customs laws.
The breaches relate to the deliberate false reporting of miller’s details and the type of rice.

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