— says fmr President sold Govt tug, barges to brother for next to nothing

MANAGING Director of BK Group of Companies, Brian Tiwarie has accused former President Donald Ramotar of corruption, referencing the sale of a tug and three barges to his brother, while he was President for ‘next to nothing’ prices, among other alleged misdeeds.Tiwari made the accusations in a Letter to the Editor of this newspaper in response to Ramotar’s comments, alleging that BK Company was awarded $800M worth of steel from the failed Specialty Hospital project. (see story on page)

In strongly worded letter, Tiwari called for a performance audit of Ramotar’s presidency and charged that since the former President is talking about transparency and corruption, he must explain how is it that his administration sold to his brother three barges and one tug for a price below $20 million.

“His brother flipped one of the barges in a transaction for $50M in a matter of days after purchase. This was followed by a sale by the Ministry of Public Works of another barge valued in excess of $150 million and this was again sold to his brother for a mere $3M, causing the State to lose millions of dollars,” Tiwari said in his missive.

He added that Ramotar must also explain the sale of 25 acres of sugar land belonging to the West Demerara Estates “for chick pea price, again to associates of his brother with his brother being a main beneficiary”.

“If steel in containers is a concern of former President Ramotar, he should be equally concerned about the Fiber Optic cable fiasco. The poor service and incompetence of his son as the head of the project, along with the Government engineer allowed for neglect, mismanagement and fraud to be committed against the State,” Tiwari charged.

According to Tiwari, contrary to the views of some – that BK International was a favoured contractor of the PPP Administration, “the records will reveal all contracts awarded to BK were done so after a bidding process was completed”. “There were some instances where BK was unjustifiably denied contracts even though we were the most competitive bidder. There were numerous occasions when BK had to challenge these injustices through the courts in Guyana. The records will therefore show that BK was no favoured contractor in the PPP regime.”

BK QUALIFIED ITSELF
Tiwari said too that the records will also show that BK International was the first local company to qualify itself with the appropriate equipment, infrastructure, engineers and personnel, which allowed it to bid and receive contracts for projects under the IDB, European Union, Caribbean Development and Word Banks, among others.

Additionally, Tiwari said Ramotar must answer to claims of the sale of 25 acres of GuySuCo lands at the Boerasirie on the West Coast of Demerara to his relative; what part he played in the near collapse and wrong-doings of GuySuCo, while he sat on its board for all the years; how a 40 foot-container of spares for a barge/ tug valued at US$100,000 delivered to the former President’s brother by a Chinese businessman operating at Land of Canaan; what import duties etc were paid on the said container; how NICIL was able to sell the former President’s brother three barges and one tug for less than G$20 million during his tenure; why was there no tender for this sale; how was his brother able to re-sell one of the barges to a West Coast, Demerara businessman for G$50M; what was the inner workings on the project of laying the fiber optic cable from Lethem to Linden; how and why was the contract for the Ruby Backdam Road awarded personally and directly by the former President to the highest bidder as opposed to BK with the lowest tender; how was Surendra Engineering awarded two Prospecting Licenses in the North West District; how did a former Attorney General become a Real Estate mogul; how many properties in and out of Georgetown was acquired by the same former Attorney General during his tenure in office; how many hotels are owned, in some cases partially, by the same former Attorney General and to whom were Casino Licenses granted and why.

Meanwhile, Tiwari said for those like Ramotar and others who wanted to convey the impression that he jumped ship after the new Government was formed in May 2015, “I want to make it abundantly clear that like every patriotic person in Guyana, I took a conscious decision to support the move for change and this decision was made one year before the 2015 elections. There are numerous persons who can support this. Our manner of doing business was never, nor is not to deal with issues in any underhand way and we urge the former President to get his facts correct when making derogatory statements against a company like ours.

BK International will continue to provide support and growth of our nation, while we continue to provide employment for numerous Guyanese for the betterment of themselves and their families,” Tiwari asserted.