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Home > Features > Kaieteur News the grand media of sensationalism and misinformation

Kaieteur News the grand media of sensationalism and misinformation

August 21, 2014

The Kaieteur News has once again demonstrated in full regalia, why it is the grand media of sensationalism , among its sister CARICOM media houses as it sought once again to mislead the Guyanese public on the matter pertaining to Bai Shan Lin’s logging activities in Guyana.

This is yet another unmistakable attempt, with the political opposition’s connivance, at derailing not only government’s national   socio-economic development   programmes, but also to discourage foreign investment endeavours in Guyana. It is indeed very sad that this publishing house, can so knowingly and deliberately continue to wage economic warfare and sabotage against the State in its pages, that are wholly political in nature.
And as again demonstrated, once a response is given to its pedalled misinformation and lies it does not accept such a challenge, in the form of having its reporters engage the source. For example, it has failed to respond to the Guyana Forestry Commission’s press conference. Of course it cannot, since the latter would have nailed all the ugly lies that have been appearing in its pages, for the past two weeks.
As an example of its well known chronic campaign of selective reporting, it seeks to convey to the Guyanese nation that the Chinese logging company has been chopping down our forests, and in the process exporting all the harvested logs. One does not need to be a political scientist to comprehend the plan behind such a journalistic strategy. What it has deliberately failed to mention is the known fact, that the company has since its arrival in Guyana, entered into many joint venture arrangements with local loggers, and that these have revived the latter fortunes. If this is not high wickedness, then what else describes!
Still bent on its traditional pattern of reporting, it resorted to screaming that well known Lindener Phillip Bynoe,   threatened its staff at a recent press briefing. Given the fact that Bynoe is still considered somewhat a high-profiled personality, it is quite strange that no other media house has carried such a report. It does beg the question as to whether this is not another attempt at misleading the public.
It is absolute that attacking any media house/ representatives should be   great cause for concern since it threatens a very fundamental pillar of democracy; however, OBSERVER has noted the double standard, not surprising, of this media, on this particular matter, whether or not it did occur.
It has alleged Bynoe’s act, as an “attack on the press”. Now, juxtapose this convenient accusation, with the deafeningly silent position taken with regards the combined opposition cuts to Budget 2012, 2013, and 2014, that affected the annual subventions of the State media GINA and NCN. Have these acts not been attacks   on these entities’ rights to exist, and as a consequence their freedom to report on government’s policies?
As has been frequently reported in this media, the Kaieteur News is a unique kind, in any region,   for its unflagging, orchestrated consistency for attacking socio-economic projects that advances the livelihoods of citizens. For there is no journal, properly established on the tenets of true professionalism, while fully understanding the imperatives of investing in the national well being, that will ever contemplate such treason, as has been the track record of this noxious publishing house.
Clearly this, another attack on the Chinese, apart from containing the dangerous elements of xenophobia, is ingratitude to a nation that has added very, very significantly to Guyana’s economic development in ways too numerous to mention. So much has this nation and its people continue to benefit from the generousity of the Chinese people that no amount of commendations can suffice.
As an aside, OBSERVER has noted that the very opposition party, the People’s National Congress(PNC) that had been the government of the day, when Guyana established diplomatic relations with China in 1972, and had voted overwhelmingly with the United Nations General Assembly at that time, ensuring that this Asian giant finally be accorded its rightful seat as a member, now leads the anti-Chinese assault. Is this not the greatest of contradictions?
As for the greatest misinformant ever in the annals of Caribbean media publishing - its epitaph will be etched as follows: HERE RESTS THE GREATEST OF PRINT LIARS, WHICH DEEDS CLOSED ITS PAGES!

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Former Member

And the KN is also TOILET PAPER reporting. This paper must be shut down for the greater good of Guyana.

8/24/1410:02 PM

Former Member

KN is just toilet paper:

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8/24/1410:07 PM

Former Member

KN refused to expose Rigging by this PNC thug:

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8/24/1410:10 PM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

And the KN is also TOILET PAPER reporting. This paper must be shut down for the greater good of Guyana.

When the Chronicle "Observer" penned that drivel he didn't know yuji22 is the Grandmaster of sensationalism and misrepresentation.

He probably still doesn't know that the same yuji22 protested last week that GNI Moderator was stifling his "freedom of expression", yet is now using that freedom to advocate that Kaieteur News "be shut down."

Any fool is free to voice an opinion, but it takes a wise man to respect other people's opinions.

8/24/1410:48 PM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

And the KN is also TOILET PAPER reporting. This paper must be shut down for the greater good of Guyana.

You are a stupid man, swallowing whole the reporting of propaganda by administration hack.

The chinese are doing exactly what they are accused of doing. Ask youself why would the be doing other than they are accustomed to doing. This is no private company. It is a state own and one designed exactly for the purpose of feeding the chinese appetite for logs.

This propaganda piece told you nothing of the contracts. It told you nothing of the concept of landlording. If a company cannot work its claim it cannot lease it to another. The allowing of the agreement to let Baishanlin work the other leases is illegal and a way that these companies have always worked to maximize their log extraction

And why should the chinese export unfinished log in the first place? That very act is itself a gross negligence of the PPP government.

Again, get informed before you post nonsense about the reporting of others. You are just being a tool for the destruction of our environment. We do not need to protest this alone. We need an intervention ie a direct confrontation with these loggers that causes them to stop their business completely. Protests only allow them to continue what they do. The do not care about protests.

8/24/1411:04 PM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

KN is just toilet paper:

8/25/141:22 AM

Former Member

Home > TOP STORY > Local publisher at centre of duty-free concession scam

The vehicle, PRR 8398, parked in front of Kaieteur News, with several corruption bumper stickers on the back. The stickers read, ‘Say no to corruption. It hurts us all’.

Local publisher at centre of duty-free concession scam

August 24, 2014

WHILE the Government of Guyana has launched a probe, and said it is conducting an overall review of the Remigrant Scheme, information obtained by the Guyana Chronicle suggests at least one glaring instance in which the system may have been breached.

It also appears that one so-called campaigner against corruption, who happens to also own a daily newspaper, is at the centre of an alleged scam.
Information received indicates that this issue started with husband and wife Narootandeo and Gharbassi Brijnanan, who were on July 3, 2013 granted permission by the Foreign Affairs Ministry to return to Guyana as “remigrants”, along with the concomitant incentives of the scheme.
Under the remigrant programme, Guyanese who would have resided overseas for more than five years and are returning home to reside are entitled to a number of benefits. These benefits include an import duty-free waiver for vehicles, and tax exemption for household items, once the items at reference were owned for six months or more in the country where the remigrant was living.
As husband and wife, Narootandeo and Gharbassi Brijnanan were entitled to concessions as two separate individuals, although a joint application was submitted.
The duty-free concession is awarded on condition that “the motor vehicle cannot be leased or transferred within three years of registration, and providing that the registration licence, fitness and registration and insurance are submitted for inspection at the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) every six months,” according to a letter issued to the applicant.
The Brijananans, on their application form, indicated that besides household items, they were returning with two 2013 Lexus Suburban L57 vehicles, the chassis numbers of which were listed along with other required information.
On the application form, the chassis numbers for the vehicles were listed as JTJHY7AX7D4100270 and JTJHY7AX6D4094851 with the registration dates in the State of New York being September 25, 2012 and March 3, 2013 correspondingly.
However, on the Bill of Lading for the vehicles, the chassis numbers were listed as JTJHY7AX6D4096745 and JTJHY7AX6D4094851, respectively. This clearly indicates that one of the numbers did not correspond with the chassis number on the application.
Further, for the vehicle bearing chassis number JTJHY7AX6D4094851, it was noticed that the date on the New York-issued Certificate of Title was March 3, 2013. This could only mean that the vehicle was not owned for more than six months before the application was made by the Brijnanans.
If true, this would be a clear violation of the regulation surrounding the application for remigrant status and duty-free concession.
The Guyana Chronicle was able to obtain copies of all the relevant documents — from the application to and approval by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, GRA, and shipping information.
Further, Glenn Lall, owner and publisher of the Kaieteur News, was listed as the closest relative of Naratootandeo Brijnanan on the application form that was submitted to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. The Brijnanans gave as their address in Guyana 221 Number 61 Village, Corentyne Berbice.
In essence, what would have occurred, according to documents perused by the Guyana Chronicle, is that the Brijnanans successfully obtained import duty concession in the sum of $4.222, 223.55 for each vehicle, totaling in excess of $8M.
When contacted by the Guyana Chronicle, Brijnanan said he was unaware of the discrepancies on his application and the Bill of Lading for the vehicles, thereby denying that he was involved in any scam.
He stated that he’d applied for Remigrant Status some five years ago, and has been in the country since then. However, the letter from GRA to the Brijnanans is dated July 8, 2013. Further, the receipt attached to the Bill of Lading is dated September 20, 2013.
When questioned about the conflicting chassis numbers listed on his application and his Bill of Lading, Brijnanan said he could not explain the discrepancy. “I can’t understand; it is supposed to be the same thing that came,” he said.
However, further investigation by the Guyana Chronicle has unfolded more evidence to suggest that Brijnanan was less than honest in disclosing the location of the two Lexus vehicles. “I have the vehicles right here in Berbice with me,” he said.
Information found on the GRA License Revenue Processing System (GRA -LRPS) form indicates that the licence plate numbers for the two vehicles are PRR 8398 and PRR 8399, which are driven by Lall and his wife, Bhena (owner of Bhena’s Footwear).
PRR 8398 is usually prominently parked in front of the Kaieteur News head office on Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown, and PRR 8399 is often seen on Regent Street, Georgetown near Bhena’s Footwear.
Also, although the Brijnanans have a Berbice address, it was noted that the address listed on the registration forms for both of the vehicles is Lot 8 Continental Park, East Bank Demerara, which just so happens to be the address of a senior functionary at the GRA, whom is a close acquaintance of the Lalls.
With the Auditor-General’s Office conducting an investigation into alleged scams involving the Remigrant Scheme, it is not sure whether or not this is one of them. So far, Auditor-General Deodat Sharma is yet to return a call to the Guyana Chronicle, which has made several attempts obtain an update on the current review of the system.
Meanwhile, this newspaper’s research into the source price for a Lexus L570 is about US$80,000. Import duty for such a vehicle would be a total of US$94,500, bringing the total value of the vehicle to US$174,500, or more than G$36M for each of the vehicles imported by the Brijnanans.
It appears, therefore, that the Government was cheated out of a total of US$189,000 (US$94,500 times 2), or almost $40M in import duty for the two vehicles which Lall and his wife are driving.

8/25/147:58 AM

MitwahSenior Member

A most unwarranted attack against the media

August 20, 2014 | By KNews | Filed Under Editorial, Features / Columnists

The government is the elected representative of the people. It is there to pursue the interests of the people and these include creating conditions that would make the people contented. Those conditions would include social services, jobs and protection for the people by way of established institutions such as the police and supporting services. Running a country also includes monitoring its assets for the creation of wealth, which in turn would create better living conditions for the people. Indeed, the Guyana Government is not creating the wheel; it has the examples of numerous other countries, some of which were at the same stage of development as Guyana a few short years ago, but which have gone so far ahead that none of us alive would see such level of development in the years to come. One of the most talked about countries is Singapore, which unlike Guyana, has no natural resources and a population fifty times larger than Guyana’s. Today that country is a first world country, enjoying a level of development that is inconsistent with Guyana’s. Our country, despite our best efforts over the past 25 years, remains the second poorest country in the western hemisphere. But this rating needs not be the case. Like Singapore, Guyana sees the need to attract direct foreign investment. Unlike Singapore, Guyana has not applied conditions to the foreign investors that would help the people of Guyana. For example, investors were compelled by law to employ Singaporeans at every level of the investment and to train the Singaporeans so employed. The investors never balked because they knew what was at stake. They saw their profits and the cost of extracting those profits were considered favourable. The Guyana Government has been stumbling from pillar to post when it comes to foreign investors, to the extent that the government has now resigned itself to accepting the terms and conditions laid down by the foreigners. One glaring example was found during the construction of the Marriott Hotel. The Chinese contractor had developed a method of erecting tall buildings without driving piles. Most Guyanese engineers had never been exposed to this technique. Instead of the government insisting that locals be hired among the foreign contracting staff, the Guyana Government claimed that the locals did not have the work ethic of the Chinese. This is poppycock. The very Guyanese opened up the interior so that foreigners can now come in and extract as much gold and diamond as they could. The very Guyanese went to remote places, braving hardships just to make Guyana develop. In any case, even Guyanese labourers were never employed on the Marriott project. It is the same with the airport expansion project, except for the fact that the protest at the Marriott development has caused the Chinese contractors to pledge to hire some Guyanese at the lowest level of the project. Bai Shan Lin, with its investment in the forestry sector, is using local loggers simply because some of the concessions being exploited are held by Guyanese. Sadly, the government holds the view that even this is a good thing, because the Chinese are putting money into the pockets of the local concession holders. We are certain that the local concession holders had no say in what they were being paid. To add to the obvious exploitation of the low level Guyanese labour, we now hear of loggers who work but are not being paid. And despite complaints, the government has done nothing. Instead, when the media highlight the obvious wrongs and the rape of the country, the government attacks the media. Just the other day the government encouraged thugs to attack those media houses that have been critical of the exploitative nature of the Chinese investor. Simple Guyanese who contend to be leaders in the manufacturing sector, before recognizing that there is much more to be had from the sector without the addition of another acre, are content to accept the proverbial crumbs that fall from the Chinese investors. The government itself has made no bones about abusing the media for highlighting the nature of the exploitation. This could only be described as a case of self interest.

8/25/148:23 AM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

KN is just toilet paper:

8/25/148:37 AM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

KN is just toilet paper:

8/25/149:00 AM

MitwahSenior Member

GFC illegally paid over $600M to NICIL

August 24, 2014 | By KNews | Filed Under News

- “To add insult to injury, the Auditor General signs off on financial statements approved not by the Board which has the statutory duty for the financial statements but by Mr. James Singh, the Commissioner,” Chris Ram

The Annual Reports and the Audited Financial Statements of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) leaves more worrying

Chartered accountant, Chris Ram

questions than convincing answers, particularly as it relates to transparency and accountability. Chartered Accountant, Chris Ram among other critics, upon doing a detailed analysis of the Annual reports of the agency for the years, 2005-2012 all of which were laid in the National Assembly in November, 2013 found several alarming deficiencies and irregularities. But even in the face of these, the reports were granted “unqualified opinions” by the Auditor General. When a report is given an unqualified opinion by an auditor, it means that he has vouched for the authenticity, accuracy and transparency of the information presented to him. The reports reveal that for several years, the Commission has been transferring millions to the National Industrial & Commercial Investments Ltd (NICIL) and the Environmental Protection Agency, which is against the law. Ram contends that for the $600 million that the GFC allowed to be paid over to NICIL, all its directors should be hauled before the courts while NICIL should be investigated and disbanded. He said that the combination of NICIL/GFC is not only an insult to the intelligence of Guyanese but a challenge and an affront to decency. To add insult to injury, Ram noted that the Auditor General signed off on financial statements approved not by the Board of Directors of GFC which has the statutory duty for the statements, but by Mr. James Singh, the Commissioner “Surely even the most docile Guyanese must have some breaking point at which they say enough is more than enough.” The Chartered Accountant on his website, Chrisram.net said that one would expect Finance Ministers to be zealously vigilant and robustly protective of moneys payable into the country’s Consolidated Fund. “Instead, we have NICIL, under the

James Singh, Forest Commissioner

successive chairmanship of two Finance Ministers, being used to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars due to the Consolidated Fund. There can be no extenuating circumstances that could excuse, let alone justify such unlawful and reckless conduct, fully aware of the nescient (ignorant) state of the Auditor General’s Office,” The accountant expressed. There was also a published series on the said shortcomings of the Commission’s reports done by Janette Bulkan and John Palmer. The duo also pointed to the NICIL/GFC fiasco. In their detailed analysis, they too pointed to the fact that large amounts of monies, and large variations from year to year between line items in the Commission’s annual reports appear to have been unquestioned by the Auditor General. Bulkan and Palmer said that no explanation was offered as to why the GFC should be holding over US$4 million in cash each year, why transfers are made to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and NICIL, but none to the Consolidated Fund. They said too that no explanation was given by the GFC as to why it is acquiring and disposing of fixed assets and why it has current tax liabilities of up to US$10 million in a year – dwarfing other line items. They stressed that there is a legal requirement for the GFC to make transfers to the Consolidated Fund (Section 16 (2) in the GFC Act 2007), but no requirement to send money to the EPA or NICIL. Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Carl Greenidge, in support of their findings, said that this is an important and contentious issue. The former Finance Minister reiterated that the Forestry Act of 2009 makes no reference to either NICIL or the EPA so an explanation is definitely needed as to the relationship of the two entities and their claims on GFC funds. “We need to know what instructions or secret agreements were made to facilitate this blatant disregard for the law. Did the

Former President Bharrat Jagdeo

GFC Board actually take this decision or was it a calculated move by the Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment, Robert Persaud? The people need to know,” Greenidge concluded. A Partnership for National Unity’s Member on the Parliamentary Sectoral Committee on Natural Resources, Joseph Harmon said too that even from a limited review of the reports of the Commission, “it seems like the GFC is another milking cow for NICIL, more food in the trough for Brassington and his crew. As these emerge, Guyanese people see clearly how the country’s resources are siphoned off to a parallel budget over which the National Assembly has no control.” Moreover, Ram had also stated that the GFC is just another example of the perpetuation of Jagdeo’s legacy of financial lawlessness, a situation that is as wide as it is deep. He said that the state of financial lawlessness created by former President Bharrat Jagdeo surely allows for the GFC’s “incomplete and deceptive” reports to be tabled and accepted by the National Assembly without any questions being asked or challenges posed. Ram asserted that the chaos created is one in which the national accounting body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana, remains silent even as basic rules of accounting are violated with impunity. The state of lawlessness that exists, is “One in which the parliamentary bodies are paralysed by their own mediocrity. One in which we even have a mini-parallel Consolidated Fund called NICIL and where the evidence of slush funds everywhere mounts,” he added. On his website, Ram said that only a wide-ranging, independent investigation into the public financial management of this country generally and of NICIL specifically can stem the relentless decline in accounting and accountability. He opined that the Government will not allow it and the weak opposition will not ask for it but the people of Guyana must demand it. On his website, the accountant provides further details about his findings of the reports of the Commission for the years 2005 to 2012 which were all laid in Parliament in November, 2013.

8/25/149:07 AM

Former Member

Mitwat is attempting to derail this thread. KN has been exposed as toilet Paper reporting.

KN is a disgrace to print media.

8/25/149:10 AM

Former Member

Like YUJI going crazy or what today. Or red ants bite his BEEETEE.

8/25/149:30 AM

Former Member

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8/25/149:31 AM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

YUJI for lying.

8/25/149:32 AM

Former Member

Quote from the article:

"It appears, therefore, that the Government was cheated out of a total of US$189,000 (US$94,500 times 2), or almost $40M in import duty for the two vehicles which Lall and his wife are driving."

8/25/149:37 AM

Former Member

Let us talk corruption.

Shame on those who defend KN.

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8/25/149:38 AM

Former Member

$ 40 million is no small change.

8/25/149:40 AM

Former Member

Seems like Fujiyama is very upset with Knews for exposing the durtee deeds of the PPP. Too bad.............

8/25/149:59 AM

Former Member

Originally Posted by yuji22:

Quote from the article:

"It appears, therefore, that the Government was cheated out of a total of US$189,000 (US$94,500 times 2), or almost $40M in import duty for the two vehicles which Lall and his wife are driving."

8/25/1410:19 AM