THE ‘Destra  Berbice Inferno’ event was halted last Sunday due to the alleged cunning of the events coordinator. But now, two sordid tales are emerging from the womb of this most shameful international story, since events coordinator, Vijay Panday, has refuted all allegations made by the CEO of Slaughter House Promotions, Keith Mordle, and is, moreover, calling Mordle “A two-faced liar.”

Panday has since alleged that he has been receiving death threats from Mordle and a group of Mordle’s associates via his cellular and landline phones, since the unsavoury incident occurred last Sunday night.

Carded for the New Amsterdam Technical Institute ground, the show was brought to an abrupt and ignominious halt over claims that the sound and lighting company, Crown Vibes Entertainment, and artistes were not paid in full, if paid at all.

As members of the Mingles Sound Machine walked off stage, and the Crown Vibes Entertainment crew turned off all power, Trinidad artiste Rick Ramoutar was also dragged from the stage over allegations that he had not received the US$1500 performance fee owed to him.

The CEO of Slaughter House Promotions had told this newspaper in a prior interview that the show was halted due to his events coordinator’s failure to pay advertising entities, artistes, and promotional bodies with monies he (Mr. Mordle) had wired to him to facilitate such payments.

Mr Vijay Panday, who could not be located to comment on the incident immediately after what had transpired, yesterday contacted the Guyana Chronicle by telephone to give the following version of events that had led to this debacle. He apologised for being incommunicado immediately after the incident, and disclosed that his phone battery had gone dead after the event.

He refuted all claims made by Mordle, noting that promotion of the show was a joint effort between the two parties, and required them jointly meeting expenses.
Panday described as “a blatant lie” Mordle’s claim that he had been wiring US$200 to Panday weekly as fees for his promotional work. He emphasised that his work never required payment, since the two were collaborating to host the show.

Panday related that he met Mordle through a friend in July last year, and the two had discussions on the potential of hosting the ‘Destra Berbice Infero’. He said Mordle returned to the US sometime thereafter, and never contacted him to follow up on the discussions until December 2012.

He contends having conceptualised the entire idea of the Destra Berbice Inferno, since Mordle seemed to have no insight or knowledge of “entertainment know-how” in Guyana; but Mordle promised to finance the entire promotion, which later led to him (Panday) registering the entertainment agency here in Guyana.

Panday informed that Mordle wired him US$1000 as an advance payment to Crown Vibes Entertainment, who were responsible for sound and lighting at the event. He said that since he had emailed Mordle the contract, he was indeed well aware that there was a balance of $650,000 outstanding as at the night of the event; but since Mordle was unable to come up with the balance to pay the entity, he “feigned shock and surprise at the amount declared” to him.

Panday further contends that because of his credibility and affiliation with Crown Vibes Entertainment, officials of that entity had decided to wait for the outstanding payment until the night of the event; and when payment could not be effected, the crew pulled out their instruments, thus shutting down the entire show; whereupon, an enraged Mordle confronted and threatened to kill him. Some of Mordle associates also threatened and attempted to physically execute their threats on him.

Mordle had explained that Destra and other artistes were stranded at the Princess Hotel with a large, unpaid bill; but Panday reported that Mordle was “hanging his hat where his hand could not reach”, and had booked some twelve rooms for Destra, her band members, and the US-based artiste Jun Jeezy. Panday said he was responsible for acquiring the discount they had on rooms, and it was Mordle who was responsible to see that the bill was fully paid.

Refuting Mordle’s claims that Panday had tried to outsmart him on payments for the venue — the New Amsterdam Technical Institute, Panday noted that folks there had initially offered the venue at $120,000., and that bill had been fully paid. He noted that, a day before the event, an official from the institute called him to say an error had been made in computing the bill for the venue, and the actual bill was $135,000. He said he “did not deliberately mis-state the venue charge” at any time, as Mordle was suggesting.

Panday explained that Mordle had wired half of Destra’s fees to her account, as promised; but never made her balance available, even though he (Panday) was insistent that that be done.

Panday contended that Jamaican artiste ‘Cecile’ had also received 50% of her fees, but the other half was never provided by Mordle.
Mordle had previously claimed that Panday had lied to him about paying Trinidadian Rick Ramoutar, but yesterday Panday erupted angrily at the allegation, claiming that he had been asking Mordle for that artiste’s fees all the while, but had been getting excuses.

Moreover, Panday said Mordle had consented to an arrangement with the Region Six Events Planning Committee to make available $400,000 to outfit some sixty persons for the Mash Day Road Parade; and although that agreement was contracted, Mordle failed to make the payment before, or even after, the event concluded.

According to Panday, all contracts signed between Slaughter House Promotions and other entities were emailed to Mordle for his consent, and he had consented to everything sent to him, claiming himself financially capable of staging the event.

On the night of the incident, Panday claimed, he was forced to seek refuge in the house of a nearby resident after friends of Mordle had chased him and his girlfriend up the road with murderous threats. He said that Mordle continues to call his mother’s land line and make threats to kill him in five days’ time if he does not provide him with $6M dollars.
According to Panday, Mr. Mordle called him on Tuesday, demanding a payment of $400,000, and again making threats to harm him. As Mordle had previously claimed, Panday denied ever picking up any money from ticket sales, noting that an official at the Berbice Candy Shop (who were the only authorized ticket dealers) told him that some two hundred tickets and a substantial amount of cash had disappeared from the business place.

Panday said that since his was the face seen throughout every aspect of the promotion, he has made arrangements, with family assistance, to clear all outstanding hotel bills and other expenses incurred regarding light and sound, besides artistes’ fees for the event.

Concluding his story with a claim that he had paid for all the television advertisements aired in Berbice, Mr. Panday apologized to all the patrons for the eventual turn of events, and declared that the amount made at the ‘Meet and Greet Party’ for the artistes was $107,000, and not $300,000., as was suggested by Mordle. He said this amount was used to offset car rental, food and other expenses for the artistes.