Housing Ministry silent on request for disclosure on Impressions deal for Building Expo – activist
Civil activist Jonathan Yearwood, who is seeking a copy of the contract(s) entered into by the Ministry of Housing and Impressions Inc relating to the International Building Expo, is yet to receive any word from the Ministry.
Yearwood, who initially wrote to Commissioner of Information Charles Ramson Sr requesting the documents, was instructed to write Minister of Housing Collin Croal for the information. He has since done so but has not received any update from the Ministry.
“So far I have not heard anything or received an acknowledgement from the Ministry of Housing. What I am doing now is waiting for the Commissioner of Information to come back from leave so that I can follow up with him and see where this leads,” Yearwood said in a brief comment to Sunday Stabroek.
He added that there is not much he can do at this except wait until the information is either provided or denied.
On July 15, Yearwood wrote to the Commissioner of Information and made a request for the documents following questions that were raised about the partnership between the Ministry and Impressions. Yearwood previously told Sunday Stabroek that he has since received a reply from Ramson Sr.
He reported that Ramson Sr advised him to write directly to the ministry. He did so since July 18.
On July 15, Stabroek News reported that Impressions Inc appeared to be the sole company of its kind selected to organise and run the ongoing International Building Expo at the Providence Stadium. Croal previously told this publication that Impressions was not running the Expo, but that the ministry had set up a secretariat within the company’s building to deal with members of the public who were interested in being a part of the Expo. He cited a lack of space at the ministry for this arrangement.
However, when Stabroek News visited Impressions’ office to take a photograph of the secretariat, it was told that the owner, Patrick `Neal’ Sukhlal, had to give permission for it to do so. A staff member said that Sukhlal was responsible for the secretariat. Also on the Building Expo website, Impressions’ email and phone number were listed as contacts. A call to the number listed verified information that Impressions was responsible for organizing and running the Building Expo. The company is the one that exhibitors had to contact to acquire and pay for a spot.
In response to that report, Yearwood wrote to Ramson Sr asking for copies of the relevant contracts and associated documents. In his application, Yearwood listed a number of concerns he has in relation to the arrangement between the Ministry and Impressions
He submitted that vast sums of money are being collected and processed by a private company on behalf of a government Ministry and questioned whether the company will be utilizing its private bank account to receive and use the government’s finances.
“Given that it is a private company, Government expenses will be paid for utilizing the Company’s cash and bank accounts [and] official expenses on behalf of the Government could be paid through a private entity’s account. The requirements of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of Guyana could be bypassed. We are concerned that the Company could or would report large receipts and or payments from circumstances and transactions described
by the Act,” Yearwood’s application stated.
He also questioned the fees being charged by the company for the services that were provided.
Premium packages for spots at the Building Expo were listed at $8 million, Gold packages at $5 million and Silver at $3 million. Other smaller packages were listed at $1 million, $500,000, $450,000, $380,000, $200,000, $120,000, $60,000, with the cheapest being $15,000 for a table space.