Govt. has no excuse for failing to set up register of beneficial owners – AFC

Jan 13, 2024 News

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Kaieteur News – The Alliance For Change (AFC) on Friday called out the Government of Guyana (GoG) for failing to establish a register of beneficial owners as required by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

The party in an invited comment by Kaieteur News, during a press conference said the administration has no excuse for not fulfilling the requirement of the global watchdog body.

EITI requires all implementing countries, including Guyana to implement a register of the beneficial owners of the corporate entity (ies) that apply for or hold a participating interest in an exploration or production of oil, gas or mining licence or contract.

EITI decided to crack down on the absence of public registers because its position is that hidden identities in the extractive sectors only help to feed corruption and tax evasion. It said that people who live in resource-rich countries are at particular risk of losing out, when faced with systems that are not transparent, as extractive assets are too often misallocated for corrupt reasons.

Guyana became a member of that body in 2017.

According to the 2019 EITI Standards, countries are required to maintain a public register of beneficial owners that demonstrates the level of ownership and details about how ownership or control is exercised. The 2019 EITI Standard requires that, as of January 1, 2020, implementing countries request, and companies publicly disclose, beneficial ownership information.

Four years after the timeline set out by EITI, Guyana has not yet developed a register of beneficial owners that hold lucrative mining licenses in the extractive sectors.

The AFC’s David Patterson on Friday said Guyana may very well “fall foul” of the body again for failing to abide by this requirement. Last year, Guyana was suspended temporarily from EITI in February for failing to complete and publish its 2020 EITI Report. The suspension was lifted in June 2023 after the country published the report.

Patterson said, “I think we will fall foul of them once again; it (EITI standards) dictates that the beneficial owners of any mining concessions or licence must be (published), legislation or not.”

He pointed out that the register is crucial to the Guyanese population since there remains concerns regarding the award of mining concessions prior to the National Elections in 2015.

“You could remember prior to 2015, there was all sort of strange unknown concessions with vague deals and vague beneficial ownership given out under the PPP, that’s why we joined the EITI,” the former Minister of Public Works reasoned.

He believes that hile government may argue the lack of legislation is preventing the register of beneficial owners from being established, this cannot be accepted. He contended, “If somebody is saying to you that we don’t have the legislation that is irrespective. You joined and support the EITI and one of their requirements are you should have the beneficial owners, the names and everything like that should be listed for particularly anybody who is given an extractive license in this country.”

In the recently published GYEITI Report for the year 2021, it was explained that since 2018 Guyana approved a roadmap to implement beneficial ownership. The report explains, “Owning more than a certain percentage of shares certainly gives a meaningful indication of beneficial ownership (BO). However, in identifying the beneficial owner, the focus should also be on contractual and informal arrangements.”

EITI places great emphasis on beneficial ownership to monitor corruption in government.

The road map established under the previous administration is inclusive of two phases. Phase One includes capacity building on beneficial ownership and implementation requirements with key stakeholders, assessment of institutional framework to collect BO data, and work with stakeholders to define key terminologies, including the beneficial owner, politically exposed persons, and determination of thresholds for EITI reporting.

Phase Two includes the collection of BO data and ensuring data quality, development of reporting templates, and public access to BO information. The Beneficial Ownership Roadmap is available on the GYEITI website.

The 2021 Report indicated that the COVID-19 Pandemic presented challenges that affected Guyana’s ability to implement the roadmap fully. It said, “GYEITI had several engagements with stakeholders, including the Deeds and Commercial Registry Authority and GRA, to identify opportunities to disclose BO information fully.”

The Report also indicated that Guyana has disclosed some BO information in its 2019 and 2020 EITI reports using the country’s BO definition.

Last October, the Multi-Stakeholder Group (MSG) approved the Terms of Reference (TOR) to recruit a consultant to implement the BO Roadmap approved in 2019. The Report said this year’s Work Plan has laid out activities to support the full implementation of the roadmap, including BO disclosure on GYEITI official website.

On January 7, 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources invited Requests for Proposals for ‘Individual Consultancy Services for the Support for Guyana EITI in the Implementation of Beneficial Ownership Roadmap in Guyana.’

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