Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has conclusively nailed several allegations of corruption thrown at him by a Journalist of VICE Media Group during an interview at his office on February 1, 2022, which was later aired on his social media on February 5, 2022.
The Media Group has been on a downward spiral in recent years and is clearly trying desperately to survive by inventing “exposés” of corruption in developing countries to feed the old colonial narratives in its North American markets.
On May 8, 2019, Disney had told investors that it had wiped out US$353 million of the money it had previously put into VICE. A month later, on June 10, 2019, HBO cancelled Vice News Tonight, putting an end to its seven-year relationship with VICE.
A year later, the downward spiral continued when VICE laid off 155 employees in May 2020. Finally, in August 2021, they launched a new wave of layoffs, reflecting the youth-culture media company’s ongoing financial struggles and need to realign toward profitable areas of the business — amid a broader shift toward video and visual content.
In the interview with Jagdeo, after asking innocuous questions about the policies of the Government on investment in light of the massive oil find, the reporter suddenly alleged that based on “information” she had received, a Chinese logger named “Su” claimed that the only way to do business in Guyana was to pay incentives and more so, he stated that as long as the Vice President was alright, everything would be cleared.
Jagdeo immediately rebutted the allegation, stating that while he knew ‘Su’, who was a tenant at his property, how could he be expected to answer questions on hearsay that either the reporter or the claimed informant could have concocted.
On this note, Jagdeo, at a specially-convened press conference on Tuesday evening, repeated his response as he castigated the Media Group for its sensational reporting tactics. He noted that the interviewer was more or less hunting for something spectacular hence the biased line of questioning.
“I believe when these not-mainstream media come to Guyana, particularly like VICE News, the way they get into the media cycle is to say something spectacular… they can’t get in and talk about all the positive things in Guyana… Clearly from the beginning of the interview… I made it clear that we don’t want to be caught up in a cold war like China and US,” the VP said.
In fact, the reporter’s line of questioning suggested that Guyana was taking financial incentives from the Chinese hence most of the contracts that are being awarded were given to Chinese contractors.
But Jagdeo highlighted that some of the projects that were listed by the interviewer were not awarded to Chinese companies. He further pointed out the recent contract for the Linden to Mabura Road was awarded to a Brazilian company. With respect to the Amaila Falls Hydro Project and the Demerara Harbour Bridge Project, the VP noted that they were still in the negotiating stages.
Jagdeo also made reference to the reversing of a decision to establish a Taiwan Office here in Guyana. “Taiwan was given permission to establish an office here, but it was reversed the next day… this decision was not made at the level of the President or Cabinet and as such, it was reversed, but this has nothing to do with China’s interference,” he explained.
It was also put forward that immediately after the decision was reversed that Guyana secured a $1.5 billion loan from China. The Vice President made it clear that since the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) returned to power, the Government has not received any such loan from China. Jagdeo pointed out that the reporter was trying to create a conflict, by contrasting Guyana’s relations with the US and China and suggesting that the Government was favouring China. Jagdeo reiterated that it is Guyana’s policy to be friendly with all countries but maintain its special relationship with the US where “half of the Guyanese population live”.
He pointed out that he helped and saw a lot of investors. “I help a lot of people but without consideration… I see lots of companies, but is not for money or a bribe… She asked me about the laws we are changing to help the contractors… she then went on to say that Su said we have changed the Constitution of Guyana so we can give them contracts… I don’t know that I have the power to change the Constitution of Guyana to give contracts to people,” he reiterated.
On receiving a financial incentive, he noted that all his earnings and assets are with the Integrity Commission. “All my properties in Guyana are accounted for in my declaration to the Integrity Commission, on both of properties [that] were acquired before APNU came into office,” the VP said.
In addition, he noted that the agreement with tenants is known to the commercial banks in which he has two accounts.
Meanwhile, since the interview was aired and based on newspaper articles, Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton has called for Jagdeo to disprove the allegations by matching his earnings with his assets.
In response, Jagdeo related, “Now I know Mr Norton as I said before has always been a junior functionary of his party and in the government. So I can excuse his unfamiliarity with the law that was passed and that was complied with, which is the Integrity Commission Act of Guyana.”
He noted that from 1999 to 2015 all Government officials had to submit their statements of income and assets to the Integrity Commission. “The Act states that you can be jailed for one year for false declaration or not submitting a declaration.”
He reminded that when the A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) took office, members did not submit any declaration for three years. Jagdeo, nevertheless, agreed that the Police should be called in to deal with any form of corruption.
“We were subjected to SARA [State Assets Recovery Agency] and SOCU [Special Organised Crime Unit] upturning our lives… I am sure that Mr Norton did not think this through before getting involved in the matter.”
“They will never ever find anyone who can provide any evidence that they have given me a bribe directly or indirectly, because I never took a bribe, and that is why I was so confident about it when the interviewer asked me,” the Vice President related.
