-Dr Jagdeo calls attention to his major conflict-of-interest

THE penchant of newly-elected Alliance For Change (AFC) Leader, Nigel Hughes, to prioritise his personal interests over the well-being of the Guyanese people has been highlighted yet again.

Hughes is facing heavy scrutiny for his alleged influence in the lopsided oil contract that the former coalition government dealt Guyana.

Having expressed grand political aspirations, the new AFC Leader is being called upon to take responsibility.

People’s Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who also serves as Guyana’s Vice President has called attention to this major conflict of interest; which is the AFC Leader’s law firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby, representing oil company, ExxonMobil Guyana.

Dr Jagdeo, during a press conference at Freedom House on Thursday highlighted Hughes’ recent comments in an article published by another media entity.

In the article, Hughes said: “You seriously couldn’t be asking me to compromise my client’s integrity because the interest of Guyana is at stake because I happen to be the leader of a political party.”

He added: “…if you hired me in a case against the Government of Guyana and you’re going to get an advantage to the disadvantage to the citizens, are you saying I should compromise the quality of advice I give to you and the quality of representation I give to you because Guyana is on the other side? That can’t be right. You’re putting any professional in a position where they have to make a biased decision and they will not be giving their clients the best possible leg.”

Despite having expressed interest in running for presidency, a position of service to the Guyanese people, in the article, he took a firm stance and said he will not cut ties with the oil companies that are clients of his law firm.

It is on this note that Dr Jagdeo urged Guyanese to read Hughes’ concerning statements, which according to him exposes his typical nature.

“Every Guyanese should read it. How obscene it is. I can’t convey that, the feeling of revulsion that I felt. This is someone aspiring to the highest office in the country who has just been elected the leader of a party,” the PPP General Secretary emphasised.

Notably, this came as no surprise, as Dr Jagdeo highlighted that Hughes resigned from the AFC on April 11th, 2016, just a few days before the former administration moved towards concluding negotiations with ExxonMobil Guyana on the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement (PSA).

Citing the Clyde and Company report commissioned by the previous coalition administration, which was presented on January 30th 2020, the PPP General Secretary pointed out some telling information.

As he read what the report disclosed, Dr Jagdeo said: “It says that on the 19th of May, 2015, EEPGL sent a proposed escrow process flowchart setting out various sets and timelines for the execution of a new PSA and that is what would become the 2016 agreement. In the period from May 2015, Nigel Hughes was still chairman of the party, the negotiations started, because Exxon, their own report said, sent this document over, proposing a timeline.”

He added: “Hughes lied about this when asked by Global Witness.”

Dr Jagdeo then referenced Global Witness’s report titled ‘Signed Away’, published in February 2020, which was withdrawn in January 2021. Notably, however, in a statement on the withdrawal, Global Witness stated: “We stand by the integrity of the evidence we have presented.”

Despite Hughes’ attempts to distance himself, Dr Jagdeo said that indeed Hughes was the Chairman of the AFC, the smaller party under the coalition government, and he was representing ExxonMobil Guyana.

The PPP General Secretary firmly stated: “Here is the general secretary [Trotman] of the party, negotiating with Exxon and the Chairman [Hughes] of the party is Exxon’s lawyer. In the PSA and bridging deed, both have listed, as their local offices, his law firm, in both the PSA.”

GLOBAL WITNESS REPORT

In a July 2019 meeting with Global Witness, Hughes was asked whether his firm represented ExxonMobil during the negotiations and he responded that he was not aware of the negotiations because he “personally does not handle that stuff,” the report said.

Further, Global Witness said it wrote Hughes in December 2019 asking what, if any, role Hughes, Fields & Stoby may have played during the Exxon negotiations and it said he did not respond to this question.

“Global Witness also has asked Hughes whether he had personally worked for Exxon. In July 2019, he stated that he had been one of Exxon’s lawyers but did not specify what he did for the company. In December 2019, Hughes was more specific, saying that he was ‘not at any material time responsible for advising Exxon’ during the 2016 Stabroek negotiations,” the report disclosed.

Global Witness stood by its findings that the relationship between Trotman, Hughes, and ExxonMobil should be investigated to determine the existence or extent of any conflict of interest.

According to the report, Hughes’ official AFC title was “Chairman,” although according to Trotman, Hughes essentially served as his party’s deputy head.

“As the AFC head, Trotman’s political interests were aligned with Hughes – the party’s deputy head. Given that Hughes’ firm has represented Exxon since 2009 (although it is not clear on what matters), and given that Hughes himself has represented Exxon on other matters, a Stabroek deal that was favourable to the company may have preserved or promoted that lucrative relationship,” Global Witness said.

The report further read that Hughes denied that his relationships with Trotman and Exxon represent a conflict of interest and in July 2019, he told Global Witness that his time as AFC Chairman did not really overlap with Trotman’s time as Minister of Natural Resources.

“Hughes did resign his post as AFC Chairman near the start of the Stabroek negotiations and was not in this post when Trotman was negotiating with Exxon in June 2016. However, as reported in the Guyanese press, Trotman became a minister in May 2015, eleven months before Hughes relinquished his AFC position in April 2016,” Global Witness said.

However, despite his resignation from the AFC’s leadership, Hughes had remained closely knitted with the party and more so, his wife, Cathy Hughes served as a government minister, at the time.

Adding to this, it was said that when asked again in December 2019 whether their relationship represented a conflict of interest; neither Hughes nor Trotman provided a response.