Guyanese Online

Also read: PNC Leader Norton to Jagdeo: ‘Match your earnings with your assets’

By: Denis Chabrol in Demerara Waves – Tuesday, 8 February 2022.

V.P Bharrat Jagdeo

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has rejected claims of kickbacks to facilitate Chinese investors doing business in Guyana.

In an interview with the United States-headquartered Vice News that was posted on his Facebook page, he admits that he helps people but he denies that he takes bribes. “I help people out but doesn’t mean for consideration. It does not  mean for bribe because I believe that we have a mission to help as many as possible move forward in Guyana,” he said.

He admits that he knows a gentleman whose name is Mr. Su who is his friend and his tenant but said that he is lying on him if he told the reporter those allegations.     

Asked pointedly if he used middlemen like Su to take money on your behalf…, he said “no, the answer is no”. Pressed on why he thought that Su would say something like that, Mr. Jagdeo said he did not know and that the interviewer should ask Su.

The Vice President told the reporter that “if you’re looking to catch another , you have to come with details, you have to come with evidence.”

Mr. Jagdeo said he was unaware of Mr. Su’s operations possibly as a lobbyist for Chinese state-owned companies to develop infrastructure companies for as much as $500,000. “I don’t know how he makes his money. A lot of people are lobbyists and stuff like that here but if you check our policy-making, it’s clear,” he said.

Vice President Jagdeo, during a heated segment of the interview,  accused the reporter of coming to Guyana to make someone look corrupt based on claims by an anonymous person or her fabrication. “How could I comment on a manager who does business with Su when I don’t know what is the nature of Su’s business soo why would I want to even comment on this. You keep trying to get me to do something that I simply can’t do,” he said.

He said the Integrity Commission should be able to assess his assets, adding that the previous government had probed his wealth including his foreign bank accounts.

Mr. Jagdeo said he has met more American than Chinese companies “not because they are paying a bribe and they can be prosecuted globally.” He said Guyana’s laws are compliant with global standards to fight financial crimes.

The previous People’s Progressive Party Civic administration– 1992 to 2015– had been often accused of corruption by the opposition and certain publications.

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Norton to Jagdeo: ‘Match your earnings with your assets’

By: Denis Chabrol in Demerara Waves – Tuesday, 8 February 2022, 14:24

Mr. Aubrey Norton Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo

Leader of the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), Aubrey Norton on Tuesday urged Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo to disclose his earnings and assets, including foreign bank accounts, to disprove corruption allegations,  in the wake of his denials that he does not take bribes from Chinese investors.

“If he wants to disprove the allegation , then he can make these bank accounts that he is talking about open to the public,” Mr. Norton told a news conference on Tuesday.  Mr. Jagdeo said  in the interview  he granted a journalist from the United States-based Vice News in January that the David Granger-led government had investigated him, including his foreign bank accounts, for investigations, but Mr. Norton said he was unaware of such a probe.

Though Mr. Jagdeo has been saying that he and other People’s Progressive Party (PPP) lawmakers have been submitting declarations to the Integrity Commission, Mr. Norton has again challenged him to prove his wealth based on his earnings. “It is expected that he will say ‘no’ to these allegations but I have long thrown out an option for the Vice President . He can take his assets, put it against his earnings in the way normal citizens have to do to get loans  from the bank etc. and if he does that and can establish that the wealth he has is above board and not in contravention of law then that will help to put these allegations to sleep,” he said.

Allegations of corruption against Mr. Jagdeo have resurfaced overnight after he posted the interview in which he fended off questions as “hearsay” about one Mr. Su being a lobbyist who allegedly served as a middleman to secure infrastructural project by obtaining bribes from Chinese companies.

The PNCR Leader urged the Guyana Police Force to investigate allegations of corruption and “report to the Guyanese people” and take legal action if there is evidence.”

Mr. Jagdeo, while in opposition, had been questioned by the Guyana Police Force’s Special Organised Crime  Unit (SOCU) but the now disbanded government-controlled State Assets Recovery Unit (SARA) had filed a civil lawsuit against him and several others in connection with the acquisition of land at Goedverwagting-Sparendaam.

That case was not heard, the Granger lost power in 2020 and SARA was scrapped.

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Jagdeo to Norton: “My assets and income are matching”

By: Denis Chabrol in DEMERARA WAVES -Tuesday, 8 February 2022,

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Tuesday night dismissed calls by People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Leader, Aubrey Norton that he should disclose his assets and income to prove that he is not corrupt.

“My assets and income are matching,” he told a media briefing to deal with the fallout from an interview with the United States-based Vice News.

Charging that the Vice News reporter interviewed him  with a “predetermined agenda” and “inherent biases” , Mr Jagdeo said the PNCR Leader did not understand the process for the declaration of assets.

Mr. Jagdeo, who released the interview on his Facebook page Monday night days after it had been conducted, insisted on Tuesday night that there was no proof that he ever tool a bribe. “They would never ever find that anyone who can say or any evidence that I took a bribe directly or indirectly,” he said. “There will be no evidence, ther can be no evidence because it never happened,” he added.

Reacting to Mr Norton’s call for Mr Jagdeo to match his earnings with his assets, the Vice President recalled that from 1999 to 2015, government officials and Cabinet officials had  submitted records of income and assets.

Noting that the penalty is one year imprisonment for false or no declaration,  Mr. Jagdeo said for the first three tears, APNU +AFC did not submit any declaration. He said he had already submitted his declaration to the Integrity Commission for 2020 and 2021.

Mr Jagdeo described as “shameful” that Mr Norton had such a sordid record because they had failed to make a declaration to the Integrity Commission.

On the issue of having foreign bank accounts,  the Vice President said that he had none but he was aware that the David Granger-led administration had investigated him.  “The fact is that I do not have a foreign bank account,” he said. He added that he had two accounts at two local bank accounts and “all of my source of income can be accounted for.”

Mr . Jagdeo said that his assets included government pension, rental, all assets acquired have been done through the banking system. Mr. Jagdeo said the PNCR Leader could not state categorically that his parliamentarians were not compliant. “He cannot speak with such clarity or surety about his party,” he said.

“I’m really sure that Mr Norton did nor going this issue through because he he is new,” he said.

The Vice President said the only foreign asset he had was a now sold apartment in New York.