–due to imprudent, politically motivated decisions made over the past five years
–Board says company faces uncertain future

A deviation from the standard operating procedures and editorial policy, over the past five years, has exposed the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL) to millions of dollars in liabilities.

Already facing financial constraints, GNNL, publisher of the Guyana Chronicle, stands to sink even further into financial turmoil because of the past imprudent management of the company’s resources.

Those actions, some of which were directly influenced by officials of the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) Coalition administration, have exposed GNNL to a slew of legal suits and losses, which continue to negatively impact the company’s ability to meet the demands of the staff and, by extension, customers.

CONTROVERSIAL AGREEMENT
Following one of the several lawsuits against GNNL, the company, acting on external directives, made a decision that was not in its best interest. The company was ordered by the Prime Minister’s office to pay seven million dollars to the claimant.

After the payout was made, Chief Justice (ag), Roxane George, dismissed the very lawsuit which was the basis for the payout. The judgement was dated July 15, 2020, and the agreement for the payout was done prior to the ruling.

The legal suit in reference was filed by Rickford Burke and it was extended to other media agencies as well. The Chief Justice ruled that Burke led no evidence to support the actions brought and resultantly could not substantiate claims that his reputation was damaged in any way. In dismissing the claims, Justice George ordered Burke to pay a total of $400,000 in court costs to the named respondents.

While the respondents in the case would have benefitted financially, it was the opposite for GNNL, which incurred an unwarranted expense of seven million dollars.

JUDGMENTS AGAINST GNNL
Further, amidst the slew of claims for defamation and libel, judgements have been awarded against GNNL to the tune of over $50 million. Some of the judgements against GNNL include Yokohama Trading, where the court awarded $12.5 million; Pasha Global, where the court awarded $12.5 million; and Clifton Bacchus, where the court awarded $27.5 million. In these cases alone, GNNL was exposed to claims for over $6 billion.

The Board of Directors of GNNL has since conducted an investigation into the numerous lawsuits, the incidences of conflict of interest of the legal teams representing both claimants and the defendant, and the authorship and board responsibility for the offensive articles that resulted in the lawsuits.

The Editor-in-Chief of the GNNL at the time, Nigel Williams, was directly responsible for the various articles relating to the judgements of the court. Bacchus, along with Pasha Global Inc. and Yokohama Trading Guyana Inc. took GNNL and Williams to court following the publication of an offensive article on August 15, 2017.

Further, on pages two and eight of the August 17, 2017 edition of the newspaper, Williams published or caused to be published another article. In delivering his judgement in this case, High Court judge, Justice Sandil Kissoon, found that the publications were defamatory to the claimants; they were published maliciously and falsely conveyed to the ordinary man that Bacchus and the companies were part of a criminal enterprise that engaged in money laundering in various jurisdictions and that Bacchus had no independent legitimate source of income.

Owing to the ruling of the court in this case, GNNL would have to pay the sums awarded to the plaintiffs. Further, based on court documents, should the judgement in some of the pending cases be in favour of the plaintiffs, the company could suffer further losses of millions of dollars more.
Altogether, GNNL is facing potential liabilities of over $275 million.

DIRE FINANCIAL POSITION
The mounting liabilities, coupled with the effects of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, are not only restricting the company’s ability to provide salary increases and conduct other critical administrative work, but also driving the entity to insolvency.

According to GNNL’s current Board of Directors, the company faces an uncertain future, adding that without intervention, the requisite capital expenditure to continue operations cannot be contemplated. Further, efforts are being made to monitor the legal claims, as well as other areas of impropriety, illegal spending and uncleared monetary advances taken by former general managers of the company.

The Board also noted the poor performance of one former general manager, who was also a senior member of the APNU+AFC coalition, and who was sacked by his own board for his atrocious actions. Additionally, in 2020, the Board of Directors had reported to Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Kwame McCoy,that as of August 2, 2020, the GNNL was in a financial deficit with no operating cash flow to meet immediate needs.

He had said: “These lawsuits all relate to irresponsible reporting, reckless and careless directions from the former board members, General Managers and Editor-in-Chief. Not only are we faced with these lawsuits, we are also faced with the additional costs of legal representation as these matters go to court.”

From August 2020 to date, the new management team and Board of Directors have rolled out cost-recovery measures with the aim of staving off a financial crisis that could place almost 100 employees on the breadline.