THE Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Thursday met with officials of Baishanlin International Forest Development Inc (BIFDI) and has reportedly agreed to release the company’s vehicles seized by the authority back in April.Trade and Foreign Manager for the Chinese company, Eddie Wang, told the Guyana Chronicle that “GRA has agreed to release some of the vehicles, just one or two I guess…”
He said the revenue authority did not state when the vehicles would be released, but noted that Baishanlin through its attorney Satram and Satram, is to write GRA on Monday as a follow-up to Thursday’s meeting. “Our company was represented by our lawyer Mr Satram…we had a talk with the commissioner and his team…the commissioner has made some requests of us,” Said Wang.
In April, GRA seized several vehicles belonging to the Chinese logging company; that seizure resulted in the company’s attorneys writing the revenue authority for the return of the vehicles. The company had accused the APNU+AFC coalition government of attempting to cripple its investment here and noted that its actions against it were unlawful.
In a letter dated May 16, 2016, the company called on the commissioner-general (ag) at the time, Ingrid Griffith, to return all items seized by GRA to the company. “The investment agreement under which concessions were granted has not expired as you alleged in your letters. It was renewed in January 2015 for a further period of three years,” the letter said. The company through its attorneys argued that GRA‘s action was a violation of the international obligations Guyana has under its agreement with China.
The company had also written Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the matter, saying that the seizure of the vehicles — Nissan minivan PRR 3888 and brand new Lexus SUV PRR 2888 has resulted in significant losses to the company.
Meanwhile, Wang told the Guyana Chronicle that they are willing to cooperate with the GRA. “We are willing to cooperate with GRA and try to get the understanding of Guyana…we try to sit down and have a conversation with both sides to solve the problem in an amicable way…not to embarrass both sides…when they seized the property we feel hurt.” Wang said that after discussions with shareholders and other key partners, they will be putting forward a written proposal to the Government of Guyana. “As soon as both the shareholders give a clear instruction as to what should be done…of course we would give the government a proposal, what we are going to do, whether we are staying or quit.” [sic]
The Trade and Foreign Manager noted that the company does owe $80M as indicated by the GFC recently. “For our logging operation the figure GFC declared is real…$80M we need to tell the commission if our partner will pay off this…so that GFC will make their own decision. I think as long as we secure the investment, show the confidence in Guyana government and GFC we still can request to re-sign the agreement with GFC to collect concession. We need to have forest resource first…we cannot just construct a factory without the assurance of raw materials.”
Wang said all parties are at the drawing table, noting that “they have not shut us out…they are waiting for us to give them more information…they are cooperating with us.”
Last Tuesday, the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) announced that it will be repossessing concessions held by Baishanlin. In a statement to the media, the GFC said its decision to repossess Baishanlin’s concessions follows the company’s inability to deliver on agreed actions to introduce investors to the GFC, as well as failing to address its liability, despite having been given time to prove that it had an acceptable plan to clear its GY$80M debt.
Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Eddie Boyer told the Guyana Chronicle in an invited comment that the PSC does not have all of the facts before it and as such does not want to make a premature comment on the issue. Additionally, Boyer said the PSC was not approached by the government or the GFC on the matter and said it would have been good if the commission were involved.
“We always welcome investment to Guyana—from all over the world… I would like to say to them that while our government is resolute in encouraging investment, there should be some resolve but not at the expense of the taxpayers.” The resolve the PSC chairman said must not prevent other investors from coming to Guyana or result in the Chinese logging company’s debt being written off.