Gov’t will not pay Ramroop’s $100M CPL invoice – Finance Minister
…No contract provided by league
“I’m not paying it unless I see substantial evidence that there was a contract signed for services, that the services were performed and that the services were performed satisfactorily.” – Finance Minister, Winston Jordan
After confirming that the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) had indeed presented a US$500,000 invoice to the Ministry of Finance, Minister Winston Jordan, on Monday maintained that the hefty sum will not be paid by the Government of Guyana.
But in light of the government’s refusal to foot the suspicious bill, CPL is reportedly threatening legal action, Jordan said.
In an invited comment, Jordan said that an invoice in excess of US$500,000 from CPL has been received by the Finance Ministry. He said too that other invoices for smaller amounts have also been received.
However, Jordan shared that the invoice lacked a contract to show just what the money was being paid for.
“I have no intentions of paying it, not until I see a contract and see who signed off on it and so forth. I just can’t pay out money like that,” Jordan maintained.
Finance Minister, Winston Jordan
Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop
He said, too, that the threat of legal action is ridiculous, especially since no contract had been presented.
“There has been no contract, nothing at all, yet they’ve submitted an invoice and are now threatening legal action,” Jordan said.
According to the Finance Minister, the CPL is claiming that services were contracted and provided to Guyana. No clear indication was shown as to just what these services were. He added that the invoices presented were signed by an overseas agent linked with CPL.
Jordan continued, “I’m not paying it unless I see substantial evidence that there was a contract signed for services, that the services were performed and that the services were performed satisfactorily.”
Furthermore, he explained that there is no clear indication as to who had reportedly contracted CPL’s services. “Whoever contracted them has to know where they are getting the money from”.
Payments made to the CPL were also flagged by Auditor General Deodat Sharma in his 2013 Report. According to the extensive document, $36.3M was pumped into the CPL, which is owned by Dr. Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop. Ramroop has long been known as having close ties to former President Bharrat Jagdeo.
The $36.3M for CPL was reportedly taken from the Guyana Lotteries Fund.
Jordan believes that the money flagged by the AG had been paid out in 2013.
Meanwhile, Jordan believes that such issues would have easily gone uncovered had there not been a change in government. He emphasised that the citizenry must be alert, even with the change in administration.
“I would hope, too, that people will also put a lot of fire on us to make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Jordan stressed. “This kind of skullduggery is unbelievable and unbecoming.”
The CPL was launched in 2013 with Limacol, a brand under Ramroop’s New GPC Inc., as its title sponsor. With the sponsorship, the tournament was titled the Limacol CPL T20. However, the title sponsorship was taken over by Indian company, Hero Motocorp just a few months ago. No information had been given on why the change had been made.
