Former Chairman of the Guyana Gold Board (GGB), GHK Lall says the former APNU+AFC regime must accept responsibility for the role it played in Troy Resources’ abandonment of its gold operations in Region Seven, leaving $2.6 billion in unpaid royalties.
Lall said that During his tenure, efforts were made to bring an end to Troy’s contempt for Guyana’s laws by stopping a shipment of gold in 2019. “We stopped a shipment because we said these people owe us money but the Ministry of Finance kicked us in the a** for this and you can quote me on that,” Lall said in an interview with Guyana Standard.
Lall was keen to note that the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Guyana at the time had dropped the proverbial ball in ensuring Troy was not delinquent with its payments.
Citing the October 2014 Mineral Agreement between Guyana and Troy, Lall said the language therein states that all royalties are to be deposited into a Bank of Guyana account at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
“No royalties ever came to us. Our only role is when you get a call from the entity, in this instance Troy, you weigh the gold, and then seal and sign off on documents.
“They provide aircraft for us and we execute that work and that is it. We would give to the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Guyana reports on how much they shipped out,” Lall said.
He noted that it would then be left for the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank to ensure royalties for that shipment are deposited.
“We even went above and beyond at the gold board and we did a reconciliation (of the records). Based on the discrepancies found, we stopped a shipment because we said these people owe us money and the Ministry of Finance kicked us in the ass and you can quote me on that. They said ‘how dare you stop a shipment when foreign exchange is involved,” Lall recalled.
The former Chairman said the gold board management engaged with ministry of finance officials who subsequently instructed that they release Troy’s shipment. Lall said that instruction was requested to be in writing.
Lall added that the Director of Budget, Sonya Roopnauth passed the said correspondence to the Guyana Gold Board. He noted however that Roopnauth cannot pen or distribute such a letter on her own as it is a policy matter. “So the PNC has a part to play. They must accept blame for the Troy Resources matter which has turned out to be a national embarrassment.”
Lall also said the PPP/C government must share in some of the blame since it failed to press Troy Resources for the unpaid royalties. “The government dragged its foot on this and now the company has vanished,” he said.
The Ministry of Natural Resources indicated last week that the mineral licence for Troy Resources has been cancelled. Legal avenues are now being pursued for the unpaid royalties.
