Jayson Aaron, the principal for Aaron Royalty Inc.

April 29 ,2021

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GuyOil fuel scandal…

Kaieteur News – The Crime Chief, Wendell Blanhum, has related to Kaieteur News that Jayson Aaron, the principal for Aaron Royalty Inc. (ARI), was arrested on allegations that he had falsified a series of WhatsApp messages. Those alleged false messages, the Crime Chief explained, purported that Aaron had a conversation with an official of the Guyana Oil Company Limited (GuyOil).
Aaron, whose company is at the heart of a fuel scandal at GuyOil, was arrested on Monday. The Crime Chief had related that Aaron was taken into custody under the Cyber Crime Act of Guyana.
It is believed that he was arrested for Computer Forgery under Section 10 of the 2018 Cyber Crime Act which states, “a person who inputs, alters, deletes or suppresses electronic data, resulting in inauthentic data, with the intent that it be considered or acted upon by another person as if it were authentic, regardless of whether or not the data is directly readable and intelligible, commits an offence.”
The Crime Chief said that Aaron was questioned about the offence but was not kept in police custody overnight. Aaron, Blanhum said too, was released on bail on the same day he was arrested.
Aaron, according to Blanhum, was required to report himself to the Eve Leary Headquarters Tuesday, which he did.
Speaking with Kaieteur News Tuesday evening, Aaron confirmed that he was released on $100,000 bail.
When asked about the WhatsApp messages between him and a GuyOil official, Aaron replied, “Well bro I have all my evidence and witnesses to prove, it’s all real.”
This publication has been in receipt of screenshots of the WhatsApp conversation in question. The conversation centred around a transaction between Aaron, the principal of ARI, and the official regarding a supply of fuel to GuyOil.
In one of the screenshots, the official exhorted during the conversation that Aaron must delete the chat between them from his phone.
“Please remember to delete as we talk, I don’t want to call cause I heard you are recording conversations,” messaged the official.
The two of them, according to the WhatsApp conversation, were discussing a fuel deal between Aaron’s company and GuyOil officials which had gone sour.
A section of the conversation reads, “Good day Mr. Aaron I understand that you are upset and not answering your phone but I want you to understand that is not me it’s Mr. Blair is the person who cause this deal to go sour cause he is the one who talk you down to us and also he didn’t believe you can do it and also it’s he is the person when you left the board meeting that said that we are gonna get more money from the other supplier who is giving you a cut back.”
Kaieteur News understands that that the official has since gone to the police to clear his name and has divulged that the conversations contained in the screenshots are not recorded in his phone.
Apparently that official and one of his colleagues had approached Aaron on Good Friday with a deal to supply GuyOil with emergency fuel. The emergency fuel, based on what Kaieteur News learnt, was needed to replace a buffer stock that the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) had used up.
Aaron had acquired the fuel but the deal fell through. The ARI principal is alleging that it is because another supplier was offering the officials a “better kickback.”
A probe has since been launched into the scandal. As the probe continues it has been pointed out that ARI did not have a licence to import fuel. However, Aaron has since claimed that as part of the deal, the officials had promised to assist him in getting an import licence.
Over the weekend too, ARI had its load of fuel seized by the authorities. The vessel, a Panamanian registered oil tanker named ‘President’ has since been detained at the Ruimveldt Sugar Terminal.
Aaron on Sunday told this publication that he was supposed to meet with officials at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) on Monday, in relation to the seizure but he was arrested.