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History repeats… Gas-to-Energy contractor cheating Guyana millions of taxes
(Kaieteur News) – When the Government of Guyana (GoG) inked its first major energy deal with ExxonMobil, it agreed that the corporation would not pay taxes to the State, a provision often widely criticised, but instead of ensuring history did not repeat itself, the government in yet another major energy deal allows the contractor not to pay any taxes to the country.
Lindsayca/ CH4 was initially awarded a US$759M contract to construct a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility and 300-megawatt (MW) power plant but what Guyanese did not know is that they were sold a dream of American engineering excellence.
A recent image of the GTE project site.
Instead of paying taxes here to help fund this country’s development, Lindsayca created a shell company in the United Kingdom to enjoy not only legal but fiscal protection.
High-level U.S. diplomats and government officials stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Guyanese administration to herald the award of the Gas-to-Energy (GTE) contract to an “American powerhouse.” However, investigative findings and recent reports from Kaieteur News reveal a calculated bait-and-switch that has left the Guyanese taxpayer defenseless.
The “American” identity of this project was a strategic sham. While the company used U.S. diplomatic muscle to secure the bid, the actual contract was signed by Lindsayca Development LLP (Company number OC444882), a United Kingdom Limited Liability Partnership incorporated on November 30, 2022—just weeks before the official signing. This effectively rendered the “U.S. content” of the deal a paper-thin facade. By allowing a UK-registered shell to lead the project, the Government of Guyana handed the keys of the kingdom to a foreign entity that enjoys protections no local company—or even a true U.S. company—could claim.
Sources close to the project explained, “By using this UK shell, the contractors effectively “invoked” the 1989 UK-Guyana Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). This wasn’t just a corporate reorganisation; it was the construction of a legal fortress. Under the UK-Guyana BIT, the contractor is granted “fair and equitable treatment” that supersedes local laws, allowing them to bypass Guyanese courts and drag the government into international arbitration tribunals like the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).”
Beyond the legal immunity, the fiscal drain is a masterclass in tax avoidance. Kaieteur News was told, “Because the entity is registered as a UK Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), it functions as a “tax-transparent” pass-through. Under UK law, an LLP does not pay corporate tax in the UK if its business is carried out elsewhere; instead, the tax liability “passes through” to the individual partners. Furthermore, the UK-Guyana Double Taxation Agreement ensures that payments made to this UK entity are shielded from local Guyanese withholding taxes—revenue that should be staying in the Guyanese treasury to fund schools and hospitals.”
The government’s continued touting of this as a “U.S. entity” following visits from the U.S. EXIM Bank Chairman, John Jovanovic is a glaring exercise in public deception. While the administration poses for photos with U.S. officials to project stability and “American standards,” the reality is that the project is legally and fiscally anchored in a British tax-haven structure. If the project is truly “American,” why did the government permit the contractor to wrap itself in a UK shield that drains Guyana of tax revenue and strips the nation of its legal sovereignty?
Instead of generating local revenue, the money is being siphoned off tax-free to the partners’ jurisdictions of choice while Guyanese citizens endure blackouts and high costs of living, their national revenue is being bled dry by international legal fees and “liquidated damages” won by a company that used a British flag to outmaneuver Guyanese sovereignty and escape its tax obligations entirely.
Kaieteur News recently exposed that the government lost a dispute with the contractor that led to the payment of US$102M over site handover delays—a payout the administration tried to hide under the guise of “confidentiality.”
This brazen evasion begs a critical question: How do Winston Brassington and the Gas-to-Energy Task Force allow Lindsayca to continue to qualify and bid for the most critical projects in the country—including GAUP (the ammonia and urea plant), Gas-to-Energy Phase II, the Refinery RFP, and the NGL Operation?
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