With the release of a document showing the government accepted a signing bonus from ExxonMobil, the government was today forced to acknowledged that it did receive a payment but it stayed away from giving an amount and denied it was a “slush fund.”
“Yes, the government received a larger sum,” Raphael Trotman, Minister of Natural Resources, told the National Assembly this morning during the budget debate.
The Stabroek News published in its 8th December 2017 edition a letter signed by the Finance Secretary of the Ministry of Finance to the Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Dr Gobind Ganga, requesting that a separate account be created to house the monies. Finance Minister Winston Jordan had told the media that he was unsure about the signing bonus.
“It is a standard letter,” Trotman said of the letter leaked to the Stabroek News.
He said nothing that the government has done “except to preserve the lives of the people of Guyana.”
Specifically, he said the money will be used for legal fees as Guyana seeks a final, binding settlement to the border controversy with Venezuela.
This revelation follows a pointed denial by Trotman himself.
“I am not aware of Exxon helping Guyana at all in this regard,” Trotman is quoted by the Kaieteur News on December 2 as saying.
The Minister of State Joseph Harmon at the end of November denied that ExxonMobil funds were going to be used as part of legal measures to settle the border controversy.
“We did what we did to preserve the safety and well-being of Guyana and to preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Guyana,” Trotman said in the House today.
He said this was similar to when Guyana secured funds from Canadian oil firm CGX to settle the border dispute with Suriname after Suriname gunboats forced out CGX’s rig from exploring in Guyanese waters.
Trotman said the same advisers used by the previous PPP government was used.
“We seek only to defend our country,” he stated.
“In matters of State, certain things have to be done. The state must be protected,” he stated.
Trotman repeated that the contract with ExxonMobil and its partners will be released before the end of the year.
“We are coming and bringing everything to light,” he stated.
Trotman said that the 2% royalty will give Guyana US$380 million per annum. In addition, he said the oil companies’ annual fees have been moved from US$250, 000 to US$1 million per year. Further, he said the companies will give US$300, 000 for capacity building and another $300, 000 as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.
