Guyana’s Vice-President (VP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo has taken a jab at the credibility of a United States-based news outfit, Vice News, four days before it is set to release an episode that is likely to highlight allegations of bribe-taking levelled against the VP.
Jagdeo, during an interview with the outlet back in February this year, was asked point-blank if he took bribes. Despite responding in the negative, the interviewer related that information received from a Chinese logger seems to implicate the VP as the official who must be financially gratified before rewards are granted.
“We have spoken to a number of Chinese business people in Guyana who said you do accept bribes. And they said in fact the only way to get business done is to bribe you. One Chinese businessperson we have spoken [to], involved in timber logging, said that basically as long as the Vice-President is okay with it, it’s fine,” the interviewer was quoted by the Stabroek News on February 9, 2022, as saying.
Today, at one of his signature lengthy press conferences, Jagdeo was asked about his concerns and expectations ahead of the episode’s release, which will be aired on Showtime at 8pm on June 19.
He said that he does not expect much, and has already shared the entire interview with the nation via his social media platforms.
According to him, he did this because “they have a tendency to cut and take you out of context”.
“I didn’t release that until I read about Vice, and then I saw that they even photoshopped a smiling face into a genocide picture… So, if Vice News will do that sort of thing on a serious thing like genocide – they’ll cut and splice my thing (footage of interview), but they can’t do that because I released the whole one,” he said.
