Bart S. Fisher, one of the attorney’s just hired by the caretaker Government of President David Granger had worked with the Sudanese Government back in 2011 when that nation was sanctioned by the U.S. Government and was deemed a sponsor of terrorism.
Fisher and the company JJ&B LLC was hired this month for an initial retainer of US$40,000 by the Granger Government in a push back against growing concern in the United States over the APNU+AFC’s insistence that it had won the March 02 elections though the vote count in the largest electoral district was deemed as fraudulent.
Public documents on the U.S Department of Justice website also show four other persons receiving US$8,000 each for an initial cumulative payment of US$72,000.
Fisher heads the JJ & B, a boutique investment bank based in Washington, D.C.
Fisher himself is being paid a separate fee of US$8,000. In U.S. Federal documents seen by the News Room, one Michael Granger, who is listed as an investment advisor from Illinois, USA is also being paid a fee of US$8,000.
Another person being paid a fee of US$8,000 is one David Fraser, who gives his address as Chaguanas, Trinidad and his occupation as a business consultant. Another person receiving a US$8,000 fee is James J. Albertine, who is listed as a partner and lobbyist.
State funds, which are only expected to be used on critical projects at this time with a caretaker Government in place, is being used for this effort, though the documents which support it bear the stamp of the APNU+AFC as political parties.
Fisher had denied that he worked as a lobbyist to get the U.S. to remove sanctions from Sudan.
“I am not a lobbyist,” Fisher said in an article published by the Washington Post on December 14, 2011. “I am a lawyer, and the Embassy of the Republic of Sudan is my client”
In Federal documents, Fisher is registered as working the Washington DC. based JJ&B LLC.
That company, on its website, states that it specialises “in assisting small and medium-sized enterprises, serving as a one-stop shop for finance, law, lobbying, and public relations.”
According to the documents, the company states: “We will be contacting officials of the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government in order to seek resolution of disputes regarding Guyana’s recent presidential election, and in order to improve relations between Guyana and the United States. We also will be providing information to news media.”
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has slammed the Government for using taxpayer’s money in this way when it was seeking help to fight the spread of the COVId-19 pandemic.
Further, it suggested that the Government was squatting; the Government was defeated in a No Confidence motion in December 2018 and should have held elections three months after. But through a series of legal manoeuvres, it held on to the seat of Government until President Granger finally named March 02 as the elections date.
Copies of Statements of Poll from the country’s 2,339 polling places show the PPP has won the elections, according to the PPP itself and other parties who had seen the Statements of Poll.
The Statements of Poll for each polling place were posted outside of Polling Stations on the night of the elections for all to see; it is copies of those same Statements of Poll which were handed to party agents, including those of APNU+AFC and the PPP. The PPP has made its copies public but the APNU+AFC has refused to do the same.
The APNU+AFC has been pushing for the fraudulent declaration of District Four to be used in the declaration of a winner.
When the declarations were made in nine of the ten electoral districts the PPP was ahead by 52,000 votes. The party and others claimed fictitious numbers were then placed on a spreadsheet and were used in the tabulation for the District’s results to inflate the numbers in favour of an APNU+AFC victory.
The Government accuse the PPP of spreading lies and this is how it is justifying spending public funds the U.S. lobbying firm.
“As a Government we have a duty to ensure our country is not portrayed as the PPP was trying to do.
“We are an independent democratic country and our government respect the Constitution, live by the rule of law and abide by the decisions of our courts,” Joseph Harmon, the Director General of the Ministry of the President is quoted by News-Talk Radio Guyana 103.1 FM/ Demerara Waves Online News Wednesday evening.
The company, in the federal documents, said it would conduct political activity. This is defined in U.S. laws as “any activity which the person engaging in believes will, or that the person intends to, in any way influence any agency or official of the Government of the United States or any section of the public within the United States with reference to formulating, adopting, or changing the domestic or foreign policies of the United States or with reference to the political or public interests, policies, or relations of a government of a foreign country or a foreign political party.”
In the U.S. Government’s latest statement on the elections crisis here, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, Ambassador Michael Kozak said the U.S Government stands with the Organisation of American States (OAS) for a credible recount of all votes cast.
“It has been 6 weeks since elections were held in #Guyana with no result. The U.S stands with @OAS_official in urging GECOM to conduct a recount as soon as possible.
“Guyanese citizens need a government elected based on a credible count of their votes now more than ever,” Kozak posted on his official Twitter account Wednesday.
On March 26, the US Government summoned Guyana’s Ambassador to the US Riyad Insanally sternly reiterate its position that it will not accept any Government which is sworn in using flawed elections results.
The US Government continues to maintain that vote tabulation marred Guyana’s elections and has been calling for the national recount initiated by President David Granger under the supervision of CARICOM.
On March 6, Kozak urged that no candidate is sworn in until issues are resolved surrounding the declaration of unverified results for the country’s largest voting district.
International governments, including the U.S., UK, Canada, and the EU, along with observers from the Commonwealth, the OAS, the EU and CARICOM, have all said that if the verification of the Region Four Statements of Poll are not completed, the elections results would not be credible.
The Guyana Elections Commission has agreed to a national recount of all the votes cast on March 02 but it is yet to finalise the details of the recount plan.
