THE embattled Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil) has issued an advertisement inviting persons to apply for the post of General Manager, which was made vacant following the resignation of Trevor Bassoo a few weeks ago. Bassoo had resigned following the revelation of an oil scandal earlier in April. Bassoo had, however, insisted that his resignation was unrelated to the situation involving proprietor of Aaron Realty Inc. (ARI), who claimed that he was left with a large quantity of fuel on hand, after senior officials of GuyOil recanted on a commitment to make a purchase.
The fuel dealer claimed that he had evidence of the commitments.
After reports of the scandal began to make the rounds, Bassoo’s resignation followed, forcing the company’s Board of Directors to appoint an interim sub-committee to manage GuyOil’s day-to-day operations.

Even before the official reports of him resigning surfaced, there were social media reports hinting that Bassoo was being sent on administrative leave in light of alleged corruption at GuyOil. He took to Facebook with a response.
“I wish to state that is incorrect. I also wish to advise that I have chosen to and have submitted my resignation to the Chairman and Board of Directors,” Bassoo said in his post. He also indicated his intension to solicit legal advice on the way forward. Bassoo was appointed to the post of General Manager of GuyOil in October 2020, replacing Renatha Exeter, who had also resigned from the company.
Meanwhile, in addition to the former General Manager, GuyOil also noted that no contract was signed with the accusing company.

Shortly after the allegations were made, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, summoned the company’s Board of Directors, Chaired by Paul Cheong, to an urgent meeting at his Main Street office. “The Board [of Directors] repeatedly emphasised that there is no contract with the company in question,” Dr. Singh told the Guyana Chronicle. The board, during the meeting with Minister Singh, outlined the procurement procedures that are adhered to by the company. Following the meeting, GuyOil issued an independent statement which listed the pre-requisite procedures that are in place and in practise, relating to the purchase of fuel from any company. Those pre-requisites include competitive procurement, due diligence of the supplying company, purchase order/contract, nominated quantity sent to the supplier with expected date of delivery, certificate of quality/conformity with technical specification, proforma invoice which is necessary for the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to authorise the offloading of any fuel from the supplier’s vessel, and a certificate of origin/signed declaration that the product was not sourced from an embargoed country.

Also, among the pre-requisites are details of the vessel to be used, the Q88 document; a detailed report by an independent inspector on the loading of the vessel; bill of lading for the loaded vessel and updates from the vessel on its estimated time of arrival.
“GuyOil wishes to categorically state that whilst ARI was one of a number of companies which GuyOil had discussions on the possible supply of fuel, GuyOil has not, at any time, entered into a contract with ARI,” the company said in its press release.

Despite GuyOil’s defence, Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, went ahead to request that an urgent audit be conducted by the Office of the Auditor General. “We have absolutely no tolerance in this government for any corrupt practices,” Dr. Singh emphasised. In an invited comment following the incident, Dr. Singh told the Guyana Chronicle that while he does not want to preempt the outcome of the investigations, whomever is deemed culpable of wrongdoings will face the requisite consequences.
“In the event that any inappropriate practices are identified, condign action would be taken,” the Finance Minister maintained.
He noted that while there might have been some communication between particular GuyOil officials, no official agreements were entered into. “The board made that clear to me,” Dr. Singh added. The vacancy notice, signed by GuyOil’s Chairman, Cheong, also advertised for a Company Secretary. The investigations into the scandal are said to be ongoing.