No kickback, no contract… Woman tells harrowing tale how Guyoil terminated contracts
A Trinidadian company is preparing to file legal actions to recoup losses after what it alleges is a clear attempt to force it to pay a bribe.
The transactions involved the state-owned Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil).
Earlier this year, between May and July, the company, Commissiong and Company Limited of San Fernando, Trinidad, signed three contracts with GuyOil.
Signing on behalf of the Trinidad company was Managing Director, Nirmala Rambharat, while representing GuyOil was Stephen Nascimento, Facilities Manager.
The contract was for the construction and erection of two 10,000 barrel storage tanks at GuyOil’s Providence terminal.
The other two contracts involved the supply and delivery of a rigid tank wagon and a light truck.
According to Rambharat, her company tendered for the projects as it was open for international bidders.
The price for the storage tanks was for $110M.
The woman said that she submitted an international bid bond that was accepted by GuyOil.
Her nearest competitor had placed a bid for $194M.
GuyOil appeared to be happy with the tenders and went ahead and issued letters of award to the Trinidad company.
“Commissiong presented to GuyOil an international performance bond which they accepted upon and then they signed the contract with GuyOil. It meant that they were happy with the documents.”
The woman said shortly after the contracts were signed, a woman who claimed she was the Chief of GuyOil called her cell.
The woman said that Commissiong is required to pay upfront money if it wanted an advance.
“I told the woman that we working on a small profit margin and we cannot afford that. The woman said it is for the Minister… (Minister’s portfolio named).”
The woman, Rambharat said, cut the call soon after.
Shortly after, the woman said that GuyOil sent an email stating that her advance payment bonds were rejected and she would need to provide local bonds.
“I then responded to them that local Guyanese advance payment bonds are impossible because I’m an international company; my assets and bank accounts are in Trinidad.”
She later received the termination letters.
The woman claimed that by then her company invested thousands of US dollars and had started to mobilise.
“You have to understand that we were asked to submit documents to back our tender. We did that. We then were awarded. They then said not everything was well with our documents. We signed a contract.”
The business executive believed that her refusal to entertain paying a bribe was linked to the termination of her contract.
The company’s lawyers have written GuyOil on the matter.
