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GUYANA CHRONICLE Tuesday March 1, 2016
GuyOil boss fired THE BOARD of Directors of the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GuyOil) has taken a decision to fire its Managing Director, Badrie Persaud, effective February 27. A statement from the oil company noted that the Board along with the Forensic Auditor reviewed the findings of the forensic audit, undertaken by Nigel Hinds Financial Services, for the period November 01, 2011 to May 31, 2015. According to GuyOil, the findings documented unauthorised and inimical actions taken by Persaud and as such, the Directors at its special Board Meeting on February 18 determined that “it could no longer have any confidence in Mr Persaud’s ability to execute the functions of Managing Director honestly, objectively and efficiently.” Given the circumstances, the Board decided to terminate Persaud’s service, whose annual leave ended on February 27, with immediate effect and to pay him, in lieu of notice in accordance with the provisions of the Termination of Employment and Severance Pay Act. In July 2015, Persaud was sent on 210 days leave while the government continued its forensic audit of the stateowned company. Upon assuming office, the APNU+AFC government found that several persons allegedly fraudulently accessed fuel from the Guyana Oil Company through an arrangement set up by the former PPP administration. The allegations are that numerous private vehicles had received fuel from GuyOil under the tabs agencies like the National Sports Commission.
Badrie Persaud
Chairman of Guyoil, Lance Carberry when asked about this last year had said: “let me say this, GuyOil is a business and there are institutions that have credit accounts with GuyOil and those institutions have specific arrangements. If you have a credit account you have to identify the authorised signatory and in some cases you say which vehicles you are going to send to collect fuel so that the GuyOil station doesn’t have to determine who qualifies or who doesn’t qualify.” He continued: “First of all the order must be signed by the appropriate signatory and secondly it would state which vehicle is coming, so that is the normal arrangement in terms of the supply of fuel on a credit basis and that still applies, and if there are discrepancies a forensic audit will find out and that audit is presently ongoing.” However, according to reports persons were identified as having fraudulently accessed fuel from the GuyOil through an arrangement set up by the former administration. Government is continuing its investigation into the racket which has ensnared former government ministries - the Ministry of Home Affairs (now Ministry of Public Security), Ministry of Natural Resources (now a department of the Ministry of the Presidency) and the Ministry of Tourism. The allegations are that numerous private vehicles had received fuel from GuyOil under the tabs of such agencies like the National Sports Commission and the government has the names of persons who took fuel from the company as well as the cash amount attached.
Powering the hinterland -solar farms to be set up soon
By Alva Solomon AS MANY as 25 hinterland communities across Guyana could benefit from solar farm projects the government intends to roll out soon, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson, said on Monday. The solar farms are expected to channel power to key buildings, such as health centres, schools and police stations; and also provide electricity for community business ventures. Under a previous project, some 20,000 solar panels have been distributed to individual homes in hinterland areas. Funding for the solar farm projects has already been secured from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) as part of a US$5 million
Sustainable Energy Programme which started in 2014, Mr Horace Williams, head of the Hin-
Minister of Public Infrastructure David Patterson terland Electrification Project, told the Guyana Chronicle. The solar farm projects form part of the government’s renewable energy drive, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Pat-
terson, told the Natural Resources Committee of the National Assembly on Monday. He said that as the government pursues its plans for the sector, solar and hydro-electricity projects are being considered. As regards the plan for solar farms, he said communities will benefit depending on where they are located. Opposition Parliamentarian Pauline Sukhai, who sits on the parliamentary committee, had questions about the stakeholders who will be overseeing the renewable energy projects for hinterland communities; and Minister Patterson said those would include the Ministry of Business, the Guyana Energy Agency, the Guyana Power and Light Inc., and members of the Natural Resources Committee. Patterson said the pro-
cess is expected to get underway in April. In response to a query from Sukhai, he made it clear that the intention is not to distribute individual solar panels to hinterland homes, but to set up solar farms that would distribute the power to various key sites. As regards consideration for individual communities, he said that a body will be established to this effect. “We are setting up; there is a committee which has been set up to address certain criteria”, he said. He said that body comprises the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, and the GEA. “The process is to keep consultations with relevant stakeholders to finalize the criteria,” he said. Mr Williams, men-
tioned earlier, said a plan also has to be devised to ensure the sustainability of the solar farm projects. In the case of the home systems, families would be required to pay $500 a month, and this would go into a revolving fund managed by village councils, which would be used to sustain the project, Wil-
liams stated. Minister Patterson noted that the government has made submissions to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) to cover, at concessional financing, 50% of the cost of another project.