Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has firmly rejected false claims circulated by political opponents, sections of the media, and commentators, which suggest that he supported the waiving of taxes for ExxonMobil while serving as opposition leader.
The claims have resurfaced and are linked to remarks made by former Environment Minister Raphael Trotman in his book – From Destiny to Prosperity.
In the book, Trotman alleges that Jagdeo, as opposition leader at the time, was briefed about the provisions of the controversial oil contract with ExxonMobil, which reportedly included tax waivers.
The claims have sparked fresh controversy, with political commentators and members of the opposition attempting to link Jagdeo to the terms of the agreement signed between ExxonMobil and the APNU+AFC government.
Jagdeo, however, has strongly dismissed the allegations, labelling them a “disingenuous attempt” to tie the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) to the controversial agreement that he says was signed by the previous government.
The vice president demanded that Trotman clarify the source of his information, stating, “A vagrant could walk off the street and claim that Jagdeo was briefed. But he never mentioned who supposedly told him this.”
Jagdeo further challenged the claims, asserting that if such a briefing had indeed occurred, it would have been widely known by now and would have been a bombshell long before now. He also pointed out that Trotman failed to name his sources, which made the allegations dubious at best.
Political commentator Christopher Ram echoed the claims made in Trotman’s book, reiterating arguments about renegotiating the oil deal. However, Jagdeo quickly dismissed Ram’s “recycled arguments”, reinforcing that the claims were baseless and unsubstantiated.
JAgdeo reminded that this was brought into the public eye during a parliamentary debate, where the matter was raised through the supplementary order paper. Members of parliament on the PPP side revealed that they had seen the document in question late at night, specifically at 7:47 PM, with the debate commencing at 11:47 PM.
During the debate, former Finance Minister Winston Jordan remarked that members of the government was seeking to strengthen the benefits of the agreement but the agreement signed in June of the year had not been shared with the public until a year and a half later, and the members of parliament did not have access to the full document until much later.
Jagdeo also accused Jordan of deliberately creating confusion by suggesting that the deal was linked to an agreement signed in the 1990s during the tenure of former President Jagan, a claim that Jagdeo has vehemently rejected.
