Patrick Sheridan attained Guyana Goldfields’ asset for himself through series of related party transactions

For 25 years, Patrick Sheridan led the Guyana Goldfields Inc in a number of capacities, including President, Chief Executive Officer, Interim Chief Operating Officer, and Executive Chair. But it appears that during his tenure, he would have abused the powers of those offices for his personal gain and even had the help of a few high ranking employees.

According to reports seen by the Guyana Standard, Sheridan had fostered a culture of nepotism and favouritism at the Guyana Goldfield’s North Road Office. He is said to have allowed Violet Smith, the company’s former Vice President and Country Manager, to hire her two daughters, two brothers, son-in-law, and niece, in violation of the company’s policy.

This news agency understands that when the chair of the company’s audit committee raised a concern that Smith had not signed the company’s code of conduct and conflict of interest form, Sheridan failed to take action.

But further investigations later revealed that Smith and her family had a role to play in Sheridan’s plans for the company’s assets.

In July 2011, before any of the current board members were in place, Sheridan was the CEO of Guyana Goldfields. Under Sheridan’s instructions, the Canadian mining company sold its Peters Mine Gold Project and Aremu Gold Property in Guyana for US$2.4M to GPM Minerals Inc. Sheridan was the President, CEO and a significant shareholder of GPM Minerals Inc.

On June 13, 2014, GPM announced that it was selling the properties to Bartica Investments Ltd but for much less than it was originally bought. Bartica Investments was able to bag the lucrative properties for US$481,757. It was later discovered that Sheridan was a significant shareholder of this Bartica Investments. Violet Smith and her two daughters were also shareholders.

Also, on November 22, 2018, there was another related party transaction involving the Peters and Aremu Properties. A company called Sandy Lake Gold Inc. acquired Bartica Investments Ltd from Smith and her daughters for US$4,446,990. Sandy Lake later changed its name to G2 Goldfields. All along, the owner of Sandy Lake was Mr. Sheridan.

Interestingly, the Peters and Aremu Properties were the only ones had by the Bartica Company and the only two now owned by G2 Goldfields. The company said that the related transactions saw Sheridan acquiring millions of dollars in profits.