— system to be tightened up against possible acts of fraud, says President Ali

AS investigations continue into the alleged attempts by officials of the Guyana Oil Company Ltd. (GuyOil) to improperly engage a fuel supplier and solicit his services, President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, has ordered the removal of a Director of GuyOil, Akanni Blair and Company Secretary, Shawn Persaud.
The Auditor General’s Office was called upon, on April 21, to conduct an urgent investigation of an issue related to GuyOil’s purchase of fuel from a company called Aaron Realty Inc. (ARI).
According to reports, the proprietor of ARI, a fuel dealer, had claimed that he is now left with a large quantity of fuel on hand after alleged commitments from senior GuyOil officials that the company would buy it. The dealer had claimed that he has evidence of the commitments by officials of the company to purchase his fuel.
Four days after the issue was reported across various sections of the media, alleged recordings and screenshots of conversations among the fuel dealer and officials of GuyOil surfaced.
Blair and Persaud were identified specifically as the officials who, reportedly, not only contacted the proprietor of ARI, but also visited his house and requested his services.
President Ali, when asked, during a press conference on Wednesday, about Cabinet’s position on this matter, said: “All those who had inappropriate contact [with the fuel dealer] must be removed.”

The President later identified Blair and Persaud as the two officials who he has ordered expelled from GuyOil.
In a prior report, Blair had claimed that he approached ARI following a directive from the Board of Directors of GuyOil.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of GuyOil, Paul Cheong, was reported by Kaieteur News as saying, it was he who directed Blair to source a fuel supplier for two shipments that the oil company had tendered for. Cheong said, however, that while this was the case, Blair was asked only to provide the management of GuyOil with the information for ARI.
With Persaud also implicated in the matter, the chairman related that he did not instruct either of the two officials to commence “due diligence” for the supply of fuel.
While President Ali has since ordered the removal of the two officials, he said that no fraud was committed because no transaction was entered into.

“What is of great importance is to have a review of the system [fuel purchasing system] to ensure it is rigid and strong enough at every tier to deal with… a company or individual wanting to commit a fraud,” the President reasoned. General Manager of GuyOil, Trevor Bassoo, had coincidentally tendered his resignation to the company’s Board of Directors around the same time the fuel scandal was reported across sections of the media. President Ali has since confirmed that Bassoo’s resignation was not related to the scandal, but rather a performance evaluation that was conducted prior to reports of the issue under investigation.

“The CEO [General Manager] was asked to go on leave because of a performance-related matter. He resigned because of that and he stays resigned,” the Head of State related.
It was reported that, as a result of Bassoo’s resignation, an interim sub-committee from among the Board of Directors has been appointed to manage GuyOil’s day-to-day operations.
Senior Minister in the Office of the President with responsibility for Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, following a recent meeting with the Board of Directors of GuyOil, had emphasised the need for the company to act in compliance with the established laws and procedures, in line with good governance, accountability and transparency.
He reinforced the point that a Board of Directors is appointed to protect the interest of the Government and people of Guyana and it is what he expects of all State entities. On this note, he reiterated that his Government will not tolerate any type of unlawful practices.
President Ali, during his press conference, said his administration inherited a plethora of issues related to GuyOil; these are being investigated by the Auditor General and the police.
Among the issues the President referred to is the ongoing investigation into an alleged $300 million fuel scandal involving the Guyana Defence Force (GDF).