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Govt. unsure if Chinese company paid off US$5M owed for GTT shares it sold 10 years ago
Kaieteur News – Ten years after selling out its 20% share in the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT) to a Hong Kong firm for US$30M, the government is unsure if an outstanding amount of US$5M was ever paid off in full.
Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News raised the question about the owed monies at a Press Conference held on Thursday by Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo at the Arthur Chung Conference Center (ACCC), Liliendaal, Georgetown.
Responding to “if the US$5M was paid off or not”, Jagdeo said, “I, I am have to verify that but most likely it has been paid but I have to verify it”
The PPP led government in 2012 had sold the shares valued at some GYD$6B (US$30M) to Hong Kong Golden Telecom Limited (HKGT). Upon the signing of the sales agreement with the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), HKGT only paid US$25M. The outstanding payment was to be made within two years but the company never met the deadline.
PPP lost power and the coalition administration took over negotiations with the Chinese Company for the owed cashed
After a two-year-long negotiation failed, the Coalition took GTT to court in 2018. According to reports HKGT only wanted to pay US$3M and the government did not agree.
The latest update on the owed monies came in 2020 when the High Court ordered GTT to pay US$3.2M to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT).
Justice Franklin Holder presided over the case and in February 2020 issued a garnishment on GTT’s account for US$3.2 million.
Payments of the US$3.2M were to be made within 14 days of the order and all future GTT dividends were to be paid to NICIL until the remaining US$1.8 million is canceled. The company and its shareholders were also ordered to foot NICIL’s court costs.
However, since then, there have been no further updates by the Government or NICIL on whether the entire US$5M was paid off.
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