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Key document held by Sir Shridath Ramphal, not attached to Exxon Bridging Deed leaked to media
Kaieteur News has finally managed to secure a copy of the long sought after Bridging Deed. The purpose of the Deed is to re-ignite ExxonMobil’s expired agreement with Government for its operations on the Stabroek Block. But all has not been disclosed.
Advisor to Foreign Affairs Ministry, Sir Shridath Ramphal (left) and Foreign Secretary, Carl Greenidge.
The Deed mentions an ‘Escrow Agent’ who is meant to hold an ‘Escrow Letter’ and other documents. While supporting documents accompany the Deed, the Escrow Letter is not attached.
According to the Deed, ‘Escrow Agent’ refers to Sir Shridath Ramphal of [address withheld] or any replacement pursuant to the terms of the Escrow Letter. No replacement has been indicated by the Deed.
The ‘Escrow Letter’, according to the Deed, “means the escrow letter dated the same date as this Deed from the Escrow Agent to the Parties setting out the terms of the escrow arrangement, whereby the Escrow Agent agrees to hold the Documents on behalf of the Parties subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions”.
Other terms are listed in the Deed without a definition, save to say that they have been defined in the mysterious Escrow Letter. Those include ‘completion date’, ‘Contractor Parties’ Confirmation Notice’, ‘Escrow Termination Date’, and ‘Minister’s Confirmation Notice’.
Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman
While the Deed sets out a bridging process in detail, these missing definitions leave blind spots in public understanding of how Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, went about trying to breathe life into what Christopher Ram referred to as a dead agreement.
In a recent column in the Stabroek News, Ram wrote of the Escrow Letter, alleging that it is a “closely guarded secret”.
“It is unclear whether Sir Shridath Ramphal performed any other functions in connection with the Bridging Deed or the Petroleum Agreement and how he was compensated, but if he was paid by the Government of Guyana, it is hoped that in the cause of transparency, particulars of that arrangement will be shared with the Guyanese public,” Ram wrote.
Notably, Ramphal, Trotman and Foreign Secretary Carl Greendige are the three people identified by Former Presidential Advisor, Dr. Jan Mangal as those who strongly opposed the publication of the Stabroek Block Petroleum Agreement and the US$18M signing bonus Guyana got from ExxonMobil when it inked the 2016 contract. Greenidge has since said that he did not oppose publication, though there is a December 2017 Stabroek News report of him, as Minister of Foreign Affairs, saying the opposite.
Trotman and Ramphal have not responded to Mangal’s statement.
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