Donald Ramotar libel suit over oil blocks allocation… Company registered and granted licence one week before elections

Feb 09, 2020 News

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Former President Donald Ramotar remained adamant that he relied heavily on the advice of others in the award of contracts and subsequent approval of licenses in the allocation two of Guyana’s most valuable oil assets.

Ramotar returned to the witness stand on Friday to face further cross-examination in the matter for which he is suing Kaieteur News for libel.
The former Head -of- State sued the newspaper over a report on the distribution of the Kaieteur and Canje oil blocks.
Ramotar’s lawsuit stemmed from an advertisement in the newspaper which accused him of allocating the oil blocks to companies with no known experience in the industry.
Following the expose by Kaieteur News, Ramotar moved to the High Court claiming that aspects of the advertisement were false and slanderous.
The former President has sued Kaieteur News, its Publisher Glenn Lall, and Editor-in Chief Adam Harris for in excess of $10M for libel over the alleged publication of which he claimed resulted in immeasurable damage to his character.
The case is ongoing before Justice Navindra Singh at the Georgetown High Court.
On Friday, under cross-examination by defence attorney Nigel Hughes, Ramotar fumbled to provide details on the individuals and companies which benefited from the award of the Kaieteur and Canje oil blocks.
He sought to defend the deals as above board.
However under cross-examination by defense attorney Nigel Hughes, the witness fumbled to provide details of the individuals and companies which benefited from the award of the Kaieteur and Canje oil blocks.
He also accepted suggestions from the defence that the manner in which the contracts were given out could be viewed as suspicious by some sections of society but provided no response when asked who stood to benefit from the arrangements.
Under cross examination, Ramotar told the Court that as President he was not privy to the details but trusted information fed to him by the agencies of the State authorized to vet the companies wanting to conduct oil exploration offshore Guyana.
Ramotar essentially told the Court that he signed off on the information handed to him without troubling himself too much about the companies’ track record or capacity to conduct the explorations.
He said that his main concern as President was to attract entities to invest in drilling for oil in Guyana’s offshore basin.
Ramotar claimed that the four companies – JHI Associates, Ratio Energy, Ratio Guyana and Mid Atlantic Oil and Gas Inc. were awarded contracts on the basis of recommendations.
At the initial stage of the proceedings, Ramotar’s Attorney Anil Nandlall, objected to a series of questions about the signing and the timing of the national and regional elections.
Nandlall pointed out, “The issue here is not whether Mr. Ramotar would have prorogued Parliament before the deals were signed… Whether or not parliament was prorogued is an extraneous matter.”
The lawyer said that the Court should only concern itself with the matter at hand.
“Whether it was a yawsie mango, whether he gave away the oil blocks to his brother and sisters, whether he took bribe for the contracts, those are issues under contention here that Mr Hughes should stick to…”
Hughes noted, however, that the questions had to do with the fact that Ramotar had previously admitted that when he signed off on the licenses, he had already announced a date for the elections.
The lawyer then drew Ramotar’s attention to the contracts signed, questioning him on the specifics of each company’s track record in the oil industry.
While he admitted that he had no evidence of their record, the witness maintained that he was confident that the companies’ capabilities based on the advice proffered by the technical people attached to Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, (GGMC) and the Minister of Natural Resources.
Ramotar emphasized that the agencies were authorized to examine the legal aspects of the application process and evaluate companies that expressed interest in oil exploration.
“I was advised that these were legitimate companies,” Ramotar said.
He stressed that he did not see the need to verify information which was provided to him.
Hughes in turn pointed to disclosures the witness had previously made about having the applications for oil exploration licenses in the system for a long time.
Ramotar conceded to a press statement which he sought to defend the handing out of contracts for Kaieteur and Canje blocks weeks before he demitted office.
“Would it surprise you then, that the company JHI Associates Inc was incorporated in Guyana on May 4, 2015?”
“I didn’t check to see that,” Ramotar started to say.
“I didn’t ask you that,” Hughes interrupted. “I asked if it would come as a surprise that this company was incorporated in Guyana one week before the elections.”
In response to the question Ramotar noted that at the time Guyana was still a high risk country for oil exploration.
“I didn’t ask you that,” Hughes stopped him.
“I asked whether it would surprise you that this company was incorporated one week before the elections.”
“I didn’t have that knowledge,” Ramotar responded eventually.
The lawyer then questioned whether the former President had required any information on the company or its principals.
Again, Ramotar maintained that he relied on advice that companies had the exploration capabilities.
“Would you agree with me, then, that JHI Associates if incorporated on May 4, 2015 would have no history in oil and gas discovery?”
To this, Ramotar replied, “My focus was not on when the companies were incorporated but whether they had the financial capability to conduct the exploration.”
“Are you familiar with the name John Collins?”
“No” replied the witness.
“Would it surprise you that he was the Director of JHI Associates Guyana Limited at the time the license was issued?”
“I cannot recall the names of the Directors,” held the witness.
He sustained that his actions were based on advice.
The lawyer then suggested that given the company’s incorporation date in 2015, it would have been impossible for their application for licenses to be made in 2012.
Ramotar insisted that the applications were in the system sometime between2012 – 2013.
His Attorney then objected to the line of questioning. Nandlall argued that JHI application for licenses could have been made by the company’s Canadian affiliates.
Hughes then noted Ramotar statements suggested the applications for licenses in the Kaieteur and Canje dated back to 2012 – 2013.
Meanwhile in relation to two companies; Ratio Energy and Ratio Guyana, Ramotar accepted that he was never presented with evidence of the financial and other capability of those companies.
And in relation to Mid Atlantic Oil and Gas, he accepted that he had no idea who the principals were.
He held, nonetheless, that “the companies are not shells; they are made up of people. It‘s people who have the technical expertise and not the companies themselves.”
Further he sought to defend issuance of licenses claiming “The licenses I issued were applied for.”
Asked whether he knew of the experiences of Ratio Energy and Ratio Guyana, Ramotar told the court that he was informed that the companies had experience drilling for oil offshore the Mediterranean/GAZA.
He said too that he learnt, too, that the companies were incorporated in Gibraltar.
Hughes then suggested that if the company was only incorporated in 2013, that would not allow for it to have adequate experience in the oil exploration.
In reply, Ramotar told the court that he did not see any operational document for the company before signing off on the contracts or licenses.
“As President, I had to deal with a lot of things. So I had to trust the people that worked with me,” Ramotar added.
Hughes then asked Ramotar if the contracts were made public by his administration after they were signed.
The lawyer referenced the contents of the Kaieteur News advertisement which insinuated that the contracts were signed in secret.
“Do you recall (the signing) being published in the official gazette?”
Ramotar told the Court that he could not recall whether oil agreements were published in the official gazette.
“So when Kaieteur carried that the Donald gave away secretly they were entitled to say so, “Hughes added.
Nandlall objected to the query. He noted that publications made to the official gazette were not a part of his client purview as President.
Hughes then clarified that the question of secrecy relates to the publication by Kaieteur News that the deals were done in secrets.
Nandlall protested that there was no such evidence before the Court.
“Mr Hughes has to lead evidence of secrecy …Where is this secrecy?”
Hughes noted, however, the newspaper is entitled to say that deals were done in secret given that the law provides for contracts made by the Government of Guyana to be published in the official gazette.
Hughes contended that there was no publication in the gazette and therefore the newspaper was in its right to point out the secrecy surrounding the signing of the agreements.
Further, Hughes suggested that not only were the deals secret but they did not constrain the companies which benefited.
“Do you agree with me that based on the agreements you signed, these companies could have sold their interest to other entities without restraint or having to return to the State for approval?”
Ramotar accepted that there was nothing restraining the companies from selling their interest.
Pressed on the point of who benefitted more from the deal, Guyana or the oil companies, the former President did not provide an answer.
The hearing continues on March 19, next.

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