AG should march Ramotar, Persaud to CID over oil blocks deal – Ramon Gaskin

Ramon Gaskin is of the considered opinion that the Attorney General (AG), Anil Nandlall, SC, and the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration should treat the suspicious handlings of the Canje and Kaieteur licenses with the same alacrity with which they treat recent corruption cases related to land giveaways and the recently concluded election.

He was at the time giving an invited comment on the manifestation of one of the several red flags observed in the handling of the oil licenses, specifically where the initial owners of the two blocks sold out their operatorship of the blocks without doing much work of their own. The activist said that Nandlall would do well to march former President and Minister of Petroleum, Donald Ramotar and former Minister of Natural Resources, Robert Persaud, down to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Eve Leary so they could answer to Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum about the role they played. Persaud, who currently holds the post of Foreign Secretary, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should distance himself from the post until such an investigation has been concluded, Gaskin also posited. He pointed to the recent firing of Colvin Heath-London as a fair precedent for Persaud to follow. London served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the stateowned National Industrial Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) until two days ago. The Irfaan Ali administration concluded, according to the Attorney General, that Heath-London failed to protect the best interests of the agency, thereby costing the government to lose billions in investments. In the case of the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks, by failing to develop its capacity and put the awards through open, competitive bidding process, the Ramotar administration cost Guyana billions in signing bonuses.

(Kaieteur News)