Guyana is continuing on the same corruption trajectory – Letter by Geoffrey Da Silva

Stabroek News –Nov. 21, 2021- Letter by Geoffrey Da Silva

Many governments throughout the world experience an increase in corruption as they enter the second year of their 5-year mandate because, by then, those politicians and officials who are intent on wrongdoing have “learnt the ropes” and have become bold and shameless in carrying out illegal activities. This happened from the second year of the APNU / AFC government..

The Kaieteur News and the Stabroek News published many articles and letters about real or possible corruption between 2015 and 2020 such as: [1] the scam at the government-owned asphalt plant at Garden of Eden where some private contractors got huge discounted prices, and a non-existent company from Trinidad and Tobago was paid $9.8 million; [2] at the Ministry of Public Health, 300 truckloads of expired medicine worth GUY $10 Billion had to be dumped; [3] at the Guyana Revenue Authority, some of the major oil importers abused tax exemption letters with the alleged support of some officials; [4] at the Environmental Protection Agency, a 20-year environmental permit was illegally granted to Exxon and the High Court had to  rule that the law only allowed a 5-year permit; [5] large contracts were granted to local an d foreign construction companies that had track records of not completing Government-awarded projects on time and within costs.       

Guyana: Chinese companies bidding for New Harbour Bridge were blacklisted by World Bank for corrupt practices

Oct 25, 2021- Kaieteur News

The Chinese companies which are the lone bidders vying for the contract to design and build the New Demerara Harbour Bridge, a project which falls under the Ministry of Public Works, were once blacklisted by the World Bank for corrupt practices.

New Demerara Harbour Bridge – below the existing bridge —  looking North

TAX EVASION: Pandora papers: what has been revealed so far? – The Guardian

Key revelations from leaked files exposing an alternative financial world where the super-rich can hide their assets and pay little or no tax

• Pandora papers news and reaction – live updates
• See all of our Pandora papers coverage

Illustration: Guardian Design

Guardian investigations team

Monday 4 Oct 2021 16.23 BST

What are the Pandora papers?

The Pandora papers are a leaked cache of 11.9m files from companies that specialise in creating offshore companies and trusts. They are the latest major data leak to expose an alternative financial world where the super-rich can hide their assets and pay little or no tax, following on from the Panama papers in 2016 and the Paradise papers in 2017.

USA: The Future Of American Power – By: Arundhati Roy | The Economist

Arundhati Roy | The Economist  

This By-invitation commentary is part of a series by a range of global thinkers on the future of American power, examining the forces shaping the country’s standing.

IN FEBRUARY 1989 the last Soviet tank rolled out of Afghanistan, its army having been decisively defeated in a punishing, nearly decade-long war by a loose coalition of mujahideen, who were trained, armed, funded and indoctrinated by the American and Pakistani Intelligence services.

By November that year the Berlin wall had fallen and the Soviet Union began to collapse. When the cold war ended, the United States took its place at the head of a unipolar world order. In a heartbeat, radical Islam replaced communism as the most imminent threat to world peace. After the attacks of September 11^th, 2001: The political world as we knew it spun on its axis. And the pivot of that axis appeared to be located somewhere in the rough mountains of Afghanistan.        

OPINION: The underbelly of Guyana – Editorial in Kaieteur News

 The made-up face of Guyana sparkles, but the sheen only goes so far beneath the surface. It is the well-tended face that is presented to the world with overwhelming power, to be seen, regardless of interest, agreement, or healthy skepticism. But there is another side to Guyana, which is less of quantity and its gloss, one that goes deep and to many dark places.

Today, we speak of that other side of Guyana beneath the smiling face, and the sweet words that flow, especially from political leaders.   

USA- New York-based Guyanese woman pleads guilty to US$1.7 million bank fraud

Posted by: Denis Chabrol in Demerara Waves – News Wednesday, 30 June 2021 

A Guyanese woman has pleaded guilty to a more than decade-long conspiracy to commit bank fraud, defrauding her employer, a Manhattan-based bank, by misappropriating approximately $1.7 million.

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Gangadai Rampersaud Azim, also known as Julie Azim, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla.         

GUYANA: National Disasters — By Mosa Telford

 By Mosa Telford –  June 19, 2021

Disaster and crisis have always been common in Guyana. In our moments of calm, whether consciously or subconsciously, we are in a state of constant preparedness for the next chapter in our book of trials and errors. As we turn the pages, we often can detach from the action.

Allowing ourselves to be penetrated by every mark of the crisis can have devastating effects on our wellbeing; and so, these coping mechanisms of surviving in Guyana can make us hollow. We can silently watch disasters and never utter a word. We can comfortably turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow Guyanese. We can put our stamp of approval and make excuses for corruption when we believe we are the beneficiaries and still dare to wave a moral compass.       

GUYANA: Harmon calls for “full explanation” from Ali about Sputnik V “vaccine racket”

Demerara Waves: By Denis Chabrol – Tuesday, 15 June 2021.

Sheikh Ahmad Dalmook Juma Al Maktoum

Opposition Leader Joseph Harmon on Tuesday called on President Irfaan Ali to explain a more than GYD$1 billion dollar purchase of Sputnik V coronavirus vaccines from a member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ruling family who visited Guyana last year.

“A full explanation of the vaccine racket is demanded of President Irfaan Ali by the Guyanese people,” Mr. Harmon said in a statement.

Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, in response to questions by opposition parliamentarians,  named Sheik Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum of the UAE as the supplier of the jabs.         

GUYOIL – A Case Study of Corruption in Governance in Guyana – Editorial – Kaieteur News

April 27, 2021 – Kaieteur News – GUYOIL stands as a prime example of how governance, at many levels, functions in Guyana today. GUYOIL could serve as the perfect picture of a rare behind the scenes look at how men entrusted with responsibility conduct themselves.

They conduct themselves in this manner, because it is understood all around that they have been given a mandate, in the fullness of powerful carte blanches, to make a killing while living a deep dark lie. Indeed, it could be confidently and convincingly said that GUYOIL is so much more than any one lie, but an expression of so many countless other deplorable and damnable lies.   

COVID-19: UN report warns of corruption risks in vaccine procurement

Apr 05, 2021  – Kaieteur News – As the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) virus continues to tower over the globe and countries cramble for vaccines to achieve herd immunity, a report prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned of several corruption risks associated with vaccine procurement.

The report first noted that even under normal circumstances, the public procurement process poses the biggest risk for corruption among all government functions. “Corruption scandals in procurement are widespread, but in the health-care sector, the procurement of pharmaceuticals and medical devices are particularly prone to corruption,” the report heeded, as it outlined multiple instances in which corruption can occur in the pre-bidding, bidding and post-bidding phases.