THE accounting and auditing firm Ram & McRae says it is unaware that a deposit of $82M had been made into the account of the now defunct Precision Woodworking Limited (PWL) by any account holder of Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited; or that Precision Woodworking Limited had made this deposit into its account.The firm, through its managing partner Christopher Ram, stated in a release that it was never provided with any proof of a deposit. The release was in response to coverage of the operations of the State Assets Recovery Unit (SARU) by the Kaieteur News, including a recent article headlined “SARU probes local bank accused of money laundering”.

According to Ram, the principals of PWL, Rustum Bulkan and Ronald Bulkan (now Minister of Communities), requested a meeting with him some time ago, although a more formal relationship between the two entities had ended. Ram said the directors informed him of an issue regarding PWL and Republic Bank, of which the former was at the time an account holder. The company sought his representation, which he could not offer since Ram & McRae is not permitted to engage in communication with customers of its clients.

Ram noted that his firm did not inform PWL at the time that checks had revealed that there had been in the company’s account no deposit of the sum in question. He said that despite refusal to engage PWL, the latter maintained written contact with the accounting firm, and it was suggested that the company should engage the bank’s management.

He said that another correspondence was sent to Ram and McRae by PWL regarding the $82M deposit which the former furniture company claimed was “not deposited by them”. This correspondence appeared in the Kaieteur News, Ram said, as an open letter in June 2014.

Ram & McRae subsequently wrote to the Editor of that newspaper and the court, rejecting a statement made by the company that the letter was released to that newspaper incorrectly and implausibly by Ram & McRae.

Ram said he received another letter, dated December 21, 2015, which was signed by the Bulkans and addressed to head of SARU, Dr Clive Thomas, relating to, among other things, the $82M deposit made by an individual. He said the letter sought the intervention of the SARU, and he added that it was copied to 11 persons.

He said that the more recent article did not name anyone from PWL, however the $82M was identical to the sum which the company claimed had been deposited into its account.

He says that Ram & McRae is aware of court proceedings between the bank and PWL, concerning receivership of the latter. In addition, he said that in the court pleadings, which are public records, Republic Bank specifically denied the existence of the sum in question.

“Ram& McRae wishes to make it very clear that the firm was never provided with any proof of any deposit of $82,068,617 to any account holder of Republic Bank Limited, including Precision Woodworking Limited,” Ram said.