The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sithe Global, the United States-based company contracted to

Chief Executive Office of Sithe Global, Bruce Wrobel

undertake the construction of the 165MW Amaila Falls hydro-electric facility in Guyana, says that he is willing to provide all of the contract details and relevant information on the project. This, he said, is intended to increase transparency.
Bruce Wrobel yesterday lamented what appeared in the past to be a project shrouded in secrecy and promised that should the other parties, specifically the Guyana Government, concur to make available the contract document, his entity would willingly do so.
For the document to now be made available, there is need for an approval from Head of State, Donald Ramotar or an empowered delegate.
“We need the others to agree, but we are willing to make the contract available.”
Wrobel told this publication that it is in the interest of transparency that he and his team ventured to Guyana to seek to attempt to clear the air. The Guyana Government from the beginning of the project has been deafeningly silent, only venturing to the press in defence when information is published.
The government has since informed Kaieteur News that the administration will be willing to facilitate making available the contract document with Sithe Global for the US$840M project.
Wrobel’s, during a press briefing on Tuesday, announced that Sithe Global will get a 19 per cent rate of return on its injection of equity of US$152M.
Sithe Global further disclosed pertinent information on the project as it relates to financing such as the close to US$2B that will have to be earned by the plant to repay the investors and lenders.
In terms of how the money will be used, the Sithe Global Chief Executive Officer, who was accompanied by Senior Vice President, Brian Kubeck, and Senior Vice President, James McGowan, explained that the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) cost of the actual project will amount to some US$519.6M.
The total capital costs for the project, according to the Sithe Global officials, will be US$652.5M, taking into consideration additional construction, development, start-up, as well as contingency costs.
The remaining US$187.8M will go towards financing costs which include interest during construction (US$97.1M), lenders fee and advisory cost (US$34.9M), and Debt Political Risk Insurance (US$55.7M).
Speaking of the actual construction of the hydroelectric plant, the officials explained that of the US$519.6M in total capital expenditure, the plant is expected to cost US$314M, with the transmission lines demanding some US$126M. The additional US$79M is for currency adjustments.
Wrobel said that the United States and other major powers are asking the Chinese to appreciate its currency by some 20 per cent. If this happens before financing is completed then the project could cost a further US$160 million.
Interest during the construction will amount to US$97.1M.
At a projected average tariff of US$101M, the plant is expected to rake in more than US$2B over the 20-year period on the Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) life of the project.
The plant is slated to last for at least 75 years. Wrobel said that usually such projects would last in excess of 100 years, since there are not many moving parts.
The US$2B to be earned from the plant will go towards making the repayments to Sithe Global, the China Development Bank and the IDB (should this financing entity come on board) over the 20-year Boot period.
Wrobel told this publication that it has never been a policy of Sithe Global to be in the forefront of divulging information and the company has learnt from adverse reports in the past.
He was referring to the reports circulating in relation to the Bujagali Hydropower Plant which was built in Uganda.
Wrobel said that is generally the Government involved that is usually supposed to divulge information to their electorate and populace.
“We recognize that there is a lot of misinformation in the press and that is why we decided to have an open policy and disclose,” said Wrobel.
The Amaila Hydropower Project is a planned hydroelectric project to be located in western Guyana. The project also includes a new 270 km transmission line and new substations near Georgetown. Currently, nearly all electric generation in Guyana is provided through small units burning either diesel or heavy fuel oil.
In 2002, Synergy Holdings and Harza International were granted a licence by the Government of Guyana under the Hydro-Electricity Act for the development of a hydroelectric plant at Amaila Falls.
The licence was reportedly amended and extended in 2004 when Harza pulled out leaving Synergy as the sole licensee. The licence was again extended in 2006.
Synergy Holdings was later granted a US$15.4 million contract to build the access roads to the proposed site for the hydropower plant. This contract was recently terminated because of under-performance.

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-    AFC scores Region 8; APNU nets three  

As anticipated, the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) took control of six of the country’s 10 Administrative Regions when elections for the Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen were held yesterday.
The notable change in the political makeup for the hierarchy in the regions was in Region Eight, where the Alliance for Change (AFC) managed to get its nominee, Mark Crawford, elected to the post.
It means that for the first time in the history of the Potaro/Siparuni that the chairman was not of the ruling PPP/C or the People’s National Congress, the party which is the major bloc in the opposition coalition, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU).
APNU, however, did managed to get its nominees elected in Regions Four (Clement Corlette), Seven (Gordon Bradford) and Ten (Sharma Soloman). These areas traditionally enjoy the support of the PNC.
No women were elected to head the regions. However two women – Genevieve Allen in Region Four for APNU and Amrita Thomas in Region Seven, also for APNU – secured the second highest positions- that of Vice Chair.
The PPP/C had its representatives elected in Regions One, Two, Three, Five, Six, Seven and Nine. The Chairmen for those regions, respectively, are: Paul Errol Pierre, Parmanand Persaud, Julius Faerber, Bindranauth Bisnauth, Permaul Armoogan and Wilson Lorentio.
Mortimer Mingo, who served as Region Ten Chairman, was not even selected to sit as a member of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC). Mingo was at the centre of a public row in which it was claimed that he had initially accepted a government offer for a piece of land in the now famous Pradoville 2 where former President Bharrat Jagdeo and a string of high-profile officials had chosen for house lots.
Mingo served as the Chairman after being put in the position by his colleagues in the People’s National Congress Reform, which later joined other partners to form APNU to contest the November 28 polls.
Another controversial figure who did not feature in yesterday’s elections was Kwame McCoy, the President’s Information Liaison Officer, who was accused of disrupting a number of meetings of the RDC for Region Four.
McCoy’s name did not appear on the list submitted by the ruling PPP/C for the elections.
Councilors for the RDCs are selected by political parties based on votes cast at the General and Regional Elections. A meeting is called by the respective Regional Executive Officer at which the Councilors are sworn-in. Once they are sworn in, nominations for a Chairman and Vice-Chairman are then made and the two are elected by the very councilors who were sworn in.
Meanwhile, former Chairman of Region One, Fermin Singh was elected as Vice Chair.
The RDCs are tasked with carrying out the programmes of the Central Government in their particular regions.

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- police urged to stop fooling around and come clean  

More and more controversy is emerging in the Sheema Mangar case as reports reaching this newspaper

SHEEMA MANGAR

have indicated that the results of DNA tests carried out on the samples that were sent to Barbados turned out negative.
Kaieteur News was reliably informed that the samples collected from the vehicle suspected to have been involved in the matter did not match those that were obtained from the victim’s relatives.
Among the samples tested are a piece of fabric and suspected blood which were retrieved from a vehicle under suspicion.
These were matched with samples of items belonging to the victim as well as samples from her relatives.  “At the moment there is no physical evidence to link anyone to the crime,” said a source.
This revelation adds more confusion to the matter and it is now much more certain that the matter is heading for the cold case file. The police had admitted that some results were received from the Barbados laboratory that had carried out the tests.
However, the police did not disclose the results, adding more speculation to the already controversial matter. Initially, the controversy surrounded the allegation that the hair sample collected from one of the vehicles under investigation had been left behind.
In a statement issued on Monday, the police had put the blame on one of its officers, stating that disciplinary action was being contemplated against the person who was responsible for the apparent lapse.
However, this newspaper understands that the hair sample was deliberately not taken to Barbados in the first place, since it would have been of no value to the investigations.
According to a source, the hair sample had no root and the tests in Barbados would not have been able to ascertain anything from it.
“The police should stop fooling the family. The piece of hair is just a piece of hair and there is nothing the lab in Barbados could have done with it. The fabric did not match that which was provided by the victim’s relatives,” said a source at Eve Leary.
According to reports reaching this newspaper, in the first place, crime scene investigators did not do a proper job initially. At first, they did not secure samples of the clothing that Mangar, a Demerara Bank employee at the time of her death, was wearing when she was dragged several yards under a car in September 2010 while trying to recover her stolen cellular phone.
“The authorities are not telling the family the truth. They only have them going around and around. “
Meanwhile, the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) has noted the uncertainty that seems to surround the status of the investigations into Mangar’s death. In a statement issued yesterday, the IAC said it is fully aware of the recent exchanges between those responsible for the investigations and family members and believes that enough time has elapsed for the completion of the forensic examination.
“From what has transpired, it seems there has been some inefficiency with regards to the investigations which have exacerbated the frustration of the traumatised family members. The IAC is therefore calling on those responsible for solving this heinous crime to swiftly resolve the situation so that the family can bring some closure to their unenviable distressing experience.”
Further, the IAC is calling on the Ministry of Home Affairs to intervene in an effort to expedite the process so that the perpetrator(s) can be brought to justice.
“The IAC is not oblivious of challenges some Guyanese can face in similar circumstances and wishes to empathise with the family, urging them to remain strong and steadfast during this period.”

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Drilling for oil by REPSOL in its Jaguar well location offshore Guyana could

REPSOL set to start oil drilling by next week in its concessions offshore Guyana.

start by next week, officials said yesterday.
According to officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the rig is already in position with critical materials and divers in place.
A Global Orion Diving Vessel arrived on location Sunday along with a ROV (remote submarine) conducting work since Monday.
REPSOL, based in Spain, has operations in more than 35 countries in the field of exploration, production, refining and marketing.
The start of drilling will come after several delays faced by REPSOL and CGX Energy, another company which has concessions in waters offshore Guyana. CGX is also set to start drilling in a number of weeks with a rig on its way to Guyana.
Already, REPSOL has committed to spend around US$150M for the drilling.
Late last year, Guyana granted REPSOL an extension in time to start its drilling.
The company has already reportedly invested around US$50M and is committed to spend more than US$100M for the project.
Guyana and REPSOL are highly optimistic that oil will be found, especially after a September 9th discovery in an area 150-kilometers offshore French Guiana, which is not far from the current area that REPSOL is to drill- which covers a net surface area of 1,260 kilometers square.
Guyana is said to be one of the attractive under-explored basin in the world with a potential of 15.2 billion barrels of oil. Estimates place annual production targets at 50 million barrels.
Under arrangement, government could expect a cash flow of 53%. With fuel purchases from overseas taking a major chunk of the country’s revenues, Guyana will be more than happy to find oil in commercial quantities. Gas prices have been hitting record highs in recent years.

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A security guard living along the Kuru Kururu, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, has become the country’s

Dead: Ronville Roberts

latest road fatality after he became a victim of a hit-and-run accident.
Ronville Roberts, 58, called ‘Robbie’ was pronounced dead yesterday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
At around 08:00 hours yesterday, the man was struck down by a sand truck mere minutes away from his home at Kuru Kururu. The dead man’s wife, Ingrid Schmidt, told this publication that she last saw her husband on Tuesday afternoon when he left for work. Her husband was employed with COPS Security and was attached to the Barama Plywood Factory, Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara. Roberts would usually ride his bicycle to work from Kuru Kururu to Land of Canaan.
Schmidt was at home assisting her grandchildren to get ready for school when she received the news that her husband was involved in an accident. A lad from the community who saw the accident took the news to Roberts’ family. Schmidt said herself and other family members immediately raced out to the public road where the incident occurred.
“When we reach out to the road head, we see a crowd and we see his bicycle on the road in pieces,” Schmidt said. She added that by that time public-spirited citizens had summoned a car to take her injured husband to the hospital.
By that time too, the truck which carries the name ‘Zion’ on the front, had already fled the scene. Roberts was rushed to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre where he was treated and transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital. The man’s wife said while on Mandela Avenue her husband started panting for breath.
“He start breathing hard and the nurse ask the ambulance driver how long more it got before they reach the hospital because it ain’t look like Robbie gon make it.”
He died a few minutes later.
“The people say it was a big green sand truck, marked Zion, and it reverse on he and after the man realize that he knock somebody he just drive away,” an eyewitness said.
Meanwhile, she related that an x-ray which was done on her husband while he was being treated at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre revealed that his hip bone had “shifted”, puncturing his lungs. Describing her husband’s injury, the woman said her husband was “split from between his legs.
This publication was told that the truck was later found abandoned further up the Linden/ Soesdyke highway.
The driver was nowhere to be found.

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It was refreshing to learn that the government of Guyana is contemplating allowing scholarship students to be contracted outside of the public sector as part of the fulfillment of their scholarship contracts.
For decades now, there was a proviso incorporated into the contracts of scholarship awardees which required that upon completion of their studies, they would serve the government for a specified period of time.
One of the problems with this arrangement is that the skills of most of these scholarships were under-utilized. The public sector did not always have full use for some of the workers and also many managers were not willing to cede authority and position to these scholarship awardees since they saw them as being only there to fulfill their contractual obligations before moving on to greener pastures.
And because many of the awardees were finding that their skills were being underutilized, because there were not suitable placements for them within the government sector, these graduates soon became frustrated and de-motivated and were willing to migrate as soon as their service was over.
It was not always a case of the money. It was a case whereby many of these graduates saw no future being placed in an office in some government building with little or nothing to do. After a while, boredom sets in and the graduates were only too eager to see their time in these departments come to an end.
All of this may soon come to an end if the new Minister of Labour has his way. He has indicated that the government is considering allowing scholarship awardees to be able to do their contractual service outside of the public sector. That is, that some of them can be placed in the private sector.
This is good news because the country as a whole will benefit. The scholarship students will enjoy greater upward mobility in the private sector than in government departments and they will be able to fully utilize their skills and thus gain valuable experience which will allow them to further their careers.
We should think not just of the government benefiting but how the country as a whole should benefit. But there is one sticking point which needs to be studied carefully.
This proposed scheme to allow the returning students to serve in the private sector should be carefully monitored so that the private sector does not enjoy a free ride. There has to be caution in how this plan is executed because some private sector firms would enjoy the best of skills while the state sector which may be in need of such skills will suffer.
Thus, awardees should only be placed in the private sector if their services are not required in the public sector. Otherwise the state sector will end up providing free training for potential private sector recruits.
Many years ago, this column warned against research partnerships between state-research bodies such as the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) and private companies. This model was defended as existing elsewhere in the world.
Well there are strong institutional safeguards elsewhere in the world which may not exist in Guyana and the danger in the IAST conducting research for private companies is that ultimately state resources are being used to boost the private sector.
If some invention is made in Guyana, if some product is developed then the least the taxpayers of Guyana would expect is for some patent or copyright protection to be vested in the name of the people of Guyana. But when research is being conducted for the benefit of private firms, such copyrights and patents cannot be registered in the name of the people of Guyana but would have to go to those private entities in partnership with whom the government has undertaken specific research.
Those models need to be scrapped and scrapped quickly. Private sector firms should be undertaking their own research and development. The government should not be contributing to this aspect of the wok because the government is not going to benefit in the long-term. And who says Guyana will benefit.
Most of the profits from new inventions usually find their way into foreign countries. The private sector should benefit from the returning students who cannot be gainfully utilized within the public sector, but when it comes to research and development, any product or invention should be patented to the people of Guyana and all forms of partnership with the private sector should cease forthwith.

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During the past few years, many organisations, particularly business entities, have been blaming their incompetence on the media. When they perform poorly they look for any reason. There was a time when they blamed the crime situation. They argued that the criminals were keeping the shopping crowd away even as other business places were recording good business.
More recently, a representative of the local tourism industry proclaimed that by reporting crime on their front pages, the newspapers were scaring away visitors. And the spokesperson peddled this to a newspaper which repeated the nonsense without even a cursory check.
The newspaper went further. It adopted the nonsense and even sought to attack the editorial staff of one newspaper for reporting crime.
The truth about the tourism industry is that it is not properly marketed. If the Guyanese believe that all they need to do is sit and to talk to local officials in order to promote crime then they have to think again.  Small Grenada advertises internationally as do Barbados and Jamaica. Trinidad promotes its carnival by buying space in the international media.
The result is astounding. Crime in Trinidad has far surpassed anything in Guyana and the newspapers make no bones about it. They report every serious crime on their front pages. Just last week, one newspaper, The Express, reported prominently that there were forty murders in the first three weeks.
If the argument by the various sections in Guyana is to hold true, then the carnival in Trinidad should be a bust. This is not the case. Already, hotels and guest houses are fully booked and planes are still landing. Even Guyanese are running to the twin-island republic. For the records, Guyana had four murders for the same period.
Grenada is not known for murders or for violent crime for that matter. The population is no larger than a village in Guyana. However, that country advertises like fury and sees the results.
Barbados has had its share of violent crimes and it did not hide these. Instead of staying away the tourists kept landing. Jamaica known for its violent murders is no different. The year when the police laid siege to a section of Tivoli Gardens in Jamaica, in pursuit of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, nearly one hundred people died in gunfights. There was a curfew as there was in Trinidad. This did not keep people away.
One must now wonder at the evidence that would suggest that reporting crime in Guyana is the instrument that not only affects business but also scares away people. Amazingly, many people returning to Guyana are targeted by criminals and robbed. A few have been shot and killed. These people have relatives and friends overseas. The reports would be more far reaching than any newspaper front page report.
For the tourists, the fact that the tourist promoters fail to offer proper accommodation, good service and something of interest is the main problem. In any case, most of the people who come to Guyana are returning Guyanese who would either choose to come home or to remain in their adopted country.  There are many reasons why these people do not come home and crime reports often do not count among the reasons.
We have also heard that by reporting on the crimes in the country the press has been scaring away investors. The truth is that for the greater part the foreign investors paid attention to the infrastructure, power supply and the quality of the labour. The country has been hard pressed to guarantee a steady power supply until recently. This had an impact on the foreign investor.
The biggest bugbear was the bureaucracy. Guyana became known as one of the hardest places to secure licences. Newspapers could not have been blamed for the many investors who cut their losses and left these shores. The situation reached the stage where the government had to pass legislation to improve the processing of applications.
However, it is fashionable to blame the press for every disappointment, for every disaster and for every shortcoming for which the press may not be responsible.

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The whole of Guyana knows that the opposition in Parliament has shaped an agenda for what they hope will be a freer Guyana. I say freer instead of better because no matter what laws the opposition passes in Parliament, if they involve huge multi-billion-dollar expenditures, the money will not be immediately available. What one can easily anticipate is that Parliament will amend and pass laws that make Guyana a more democratic country.
The average citizen in the next two years may not endure a phenomenal visit from the Treasury, but certainly from Mr. Democracy. Expected are changes that will see a freer communication climate with the amending of the Access to Information Bill. There will be a credible Ethnic Relations Commission, Ombudsman and the Public Service Appellate Tribunal- the absence of which civil servants will crucify the opposition, Auditor General Office, University Council etc.
But what really will be the priority items on the opposition’s agenda before the budget is passed? There are three immediate obsessions that the APNU and AFC have to negotiate with unlimited zest and unconditional demands. The first is a budget for Parliament that will result in a historic change in the political culture of Guyana. A budget for Parliament allows it to become independent of the executive.
The other structures are in place that provide for the autonomy of the House, for example, the Sectoral Committee.
If the National Assembly has a financial receptacle that prevents it from begging the Ministry of Finance, then the opposition is literally empowering itself. It won control of the House; the logical step forward is to shape the working of the House to insulate it from the tentacles of the Executive. The key to strengthening Parliament is its own budget. It needs no explanation that once it has its own resources it can act as a counter-weight to an autocratic government.
The process of investigation is a substantial armour in that counter-weight.
In the US and UK, and elsewhere a similar political tradition exists. The legislature acts immediately when a national crisis erupts. The different committees of the British Parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate in the US get into action right away. If there is a medical outbreak caused by error on the part of the Executive, the legislature starts its sub-committee investigations right away, independent of the Government.
The most recent example is the hacking scandal in the UK by Rupert Murdock’s News of the World. The parliamentary sub-committee got into its enquiry mode right away.
What is priceless about these committees is that they have the power to summon important state officials. Take the case of the UG matter and my termination of contract. Who acted right and who acted wrongly?  A parliamentary sub-committee investigating UG itself could summon officials of the University to answer question on lecturers’ work and how they are appraised. In the end the nation will know who has the power to do what, when and how at UG.
APNU and AFC officials are keenly aware that it is in these committees that their power lies but no money, no committee work, no public inquiries. It is for this reason that it is only logical to assume that there are going to be onerous and tempestuous confrontations in the passing of the budget.
The President said that it is the Government’s right to craft the budget. That is as pure a legal statement as one can get. In politics, though, legality and morality have to compete with a concept known as realpolitik. The nearest meaning of that term is a hard, practical, pragmatic approach to reality.
Why build a house and sell it to your neighbour when the neighbour is allergic to cement and would prefer a wooden structure. You would have lost your money. Build what the buyer wants.
Is the PPP Government going to spend three months on crafting a budget only to see it rejected by the legislature? In realpolitik terms, you have to offer concessions. The first concession the opposition will demand is their survival in the house. That preservation can only be sustained through one type of medicine – money. If Parliament has its own funds, it doesn’t have to depend on the executive for its biology and physiology.
The other two priorities for the opposition will be GECOM seeing that there will be local government elections late in 2012. The story is the same with the legislature. If GECOM has its own budget then it determines its own pace and cannot be stymied waiting for funds from the Finance Ministry.
Finally, before the budget is passed campaign financing has to be overhauled by Parliament. Tough times are ahead.

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People now understand de hydro project. Dem also find out that Fip mek Guyana got to spend more than US$100 million because he ain’t done de road. Every day de road tek fuh done is more money because prices going up.
Dem boys did warn de government bout Fip. But people smile because Fip coulda buy two beer and things. And besides wasn’t dem money.  Now de Sithe Global people come and talk bout how de road keeping dem back and how de Chinese gun appreciate dem currency. That mean that de project gun get even more expensive.
Now how one man can cost a country suh much money and he can’t even find one-hundredth of that fuh even buy equipment?
Now de Works Ministry trying fuh done de road. But Fip was smart. He lef de part wid all dem mosquitoes because he tell dem boys that he ain’t able wid malaria. De Works Ministry got to try wid that. Right now dem don’t have Baygon in de shop and mosquito coil run out.
But when all is said and done Fip gun mek money. De Sithe Global people done decide fuh pay he US$12 million. He gun pay he taxes in de States and then he gun sit back and relax.  Dem boys seh that he now gun get money like some of de people who in de government.
He can come home and build a mansion in Guyana. De exchange rate gun mek he look really rich and he can drive up to de hydro site anytime. Dem reporters who he didn’t carry when he had de road contract he can carry now.
Everybody want de road and de hydro. Some people did want it fuh free but dem Chinese seh that dem ain’t got nutten to give away. Dem invite dem boys to go by dem Chinese restaurant and see if Chinese does throw way anything. Not even de chicken guts.
That was de mistake Sithe Global mek when it think that it woulda get a cheap set up wid dem Chinese.
Talk half. Lef half.

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DEAR EDITOR,
I read with interest an article in the Kaieteur News (December 23, 2011) headed “Country loses billions in revenues…..GRA going after big contractors, businesses in 2012”.
I get the distinct impression that the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s boss, Khurshid Sattaur and his Agency are at a dead end after the Corporations failed to comply with the Court’s Orders to pay up.
The corporations simply fold up, move out the assets, restructure and become shell companies. Then the money trail becomes blurred or completely lost.
In essence what the directors are doing is to operate with corporations that have no substantial assets but have all the debts owing to the Government.
The assets are held by individuals, including directors and corporations that are not trading and, therefore, not incurring income taxes, value added tax (VAT), duties, payroll source deductions and other obligations.
Pursuing the shareholders of the corporations is a futile exercise as they are protected by limited liability status emanating from the corporations.
The veil of limited liability stands as a wall between the affairs of the shareholders and directors and that of the corporations. GRA can request for this wall to be pierced in certain circumstances. However, under the current laws, these circumstances are very restricted, as in the case of fraud.
I would like to suggest that a more modern approach be used whereby the directors of the corporations become personally liable.
Corporate directors and other senior officers who hold office when the corporation fails to deduct, withhold, collect, remit, or pay amounts for salary, wages and certain benefits, VAT, income tax  and duties, may be personally liable, together with the corporation, to pay part or all of these amounts.
After all, these are amounts held in trust for the Government, and the directors and other senior officers are the trustees of these funds.
Certain individuals, including officers, employees, and others who are not legally appointed as directors,  but who perform the functions that  directors would perform, may be liable as de facto directors.
Of course, there must be certain rules of liability, obligations on GRA and time limitations to institute proceedings against the directors and other senior officers. GRA must demonstrate its inability to recover the amounts directly from the corporations.
It must also commence proceedings to assess the directors within a reasonable time, say no more than two years after the directors have ceased to be directors. Also, the directors must be given the opportunity to demonstrate that they have exercised the degree of care, diligence, and skill required to prevent the failure.
The implementation of my suggestions would not only go a long way for the Government to recover large sums of money but to cause directors to take their responsibilities seriously.
There are too many instances where directors do not understand their responsibilities or they lack the necessary abilities to carry out the serious functions required of directors. Many individuals are holding several directorships in various private and Government corporations.
They are reaping lucrative remunerations without commensurate responsibilities. They need to understand that directorship is not a mere window-dressing exercise.
It is grotesquely unfair for workers to have large chunks, in many cases over one-third, of their hard-earned wages deducted by their employers and not remitted to the Government. These amounts are deducted under the PAYE system to cover the workers’ pension, national insurance and income taxes.
Instead, the employers hoard these moneys, fail to remit to the Government and eventually the directors and others in decision-making position fleece the money.
Similarly, the public pay sixteen percent VAT on their purchases to the businesses, which should be forwarded to the Government. Instead the businesses fail to pass on these amounts to the Government and pocket these moneys. Someone needs to be held accountable. Those who are responsible for the company’s affairs should bear full responsibility.
The Government of Guyana must start off by drafting appropriate legislation and setting up the requisite administrative system to hold directors and other executives responsible for collecting and remitting taxes, duties and statutory deductions on a timely basis.
Guyana Revenue Authority should be given the power to make Demand Requirement on Companies and Directors without having to seek permission from the Courts. Further, GRA can be empowered to place certain Personal Property Security lien on companies’ and directors’ properties.
For GRA’s part, it should immediately introduce stricter enforcement of timely filing of Returns and remittances with installments based on prior years and raise estimated assessments for non-compliant filers. It should also withhold any amounts owing to the taxpayer where the taxpayer is non-compliant in filing Returns or owes the Government. These measures, if carried out diligently, should lessen the Government’s exposure to uncollected taxes.
Finally, bringing into the picture, directors and other officers of corporations will help to level the playing field between the treatment of businesses operating as corporations versus sole proprietors, partnerships and not-for-profit organizations.
In Guyana, the vast majority of corporations are owner-managed; the distinction between corporate and non-corporate business entities is a mere formality. In the case of sole-proprietorships and partnerships, the owners cannot hide behind the wall of limited liability. There is no distinction between their business assets and personal assets. GRA can level claim against their personal assets to collect unpaid amounts.
I am arguing that directors and other officers who do not properly conduct the Corporations affairs and cause  “trust funds” to be “misappropriated” be held personally liable, including their  personal assets.
I am also arguing that the Government and Guyana Revenue Authority should bear responsibility for putting in place appropriate legislation, policies and administration to ensure that all sources of revenue are properly assessed and collected on a timely basis and those responsible be held accountable.
Tameshwar N. Lilmohan
Toronto

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