‘Su’ gained thousands of acres of mineral-rich land under PPP/C Govt.
Kaieteur News – The controversial Chinese national at the centre of the explosive Vice News documentary series along with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo, Zhi Rong Su, has amassed a significant portion of mineral-rich land under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration. Su, who unknowingly told undercover Vice News reporters posing as investors that bribing government officials was the way to secure business in Guyana, holds some 12,000 acres of precious stones and gold-rich lands under his name.
Chinese businessman, Su Zhi Rong was awarded 12,000 acres of precious stones and gold-rich lands by the PPP/C government
This information is provided in the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI) documents.
The Guyana Geology and Mines Commission records specify that the naturalised Chinese national has 10 active mining permits in his name and it covers some 12,000 acres of land that were issued on June 3, 2014, within the Northwest, Region One and Cuyuni Region Seven. It is understood that the Chinese businessman who has gone missing since the Vice News report, has thousands of acres more of mineral-rich lands under other names. The businessman also operates business within the fuel, construction and logging industries.
Su has nonetheless been topical for months as he and other Chinese nationals were caught on camera having claimed to have paid government officials in return for business opportunities, while others have admitted to operating a well-orchestrated money laundering ring here. The PPP/C government and later, some players within the former A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government had come in for much criticism over their cozy relationship with the Chinese national and his associates. A photograph of then Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, in the company of Su Zhi Rong and Chu Hong Bo with others onboard a private jet during a trip to China in 2016, had raised many questions.
That same year saw former Prime Minister, Samuel Hinds, insisting that no corruption was involved in the issuance of a fuel export licence to China Zhonghao Inc, a sister company of Rong-An Inc. A notice of the licence issuance was published in February 2016 in the Official Gazette, causing raised eyebrows; and was said to be the first of its kind in Guyana.
China Zhonghao Inc. is owned by Chinese nationals, Su Zhi Rong and his wife. In a letter published in the Kaieteur News, Hinds said that the issuance of the fuel export licence was taken under the PPP/C administration. Also holding the energy portfolio at the time, he defended that “There is no corruption” and claimed that the move was to facilitate a proposal by China Zhonghao Inc. to attempt to establish refuelling and other bunkering services in port or at sea, to Chinese or other fishing fleets, and any other vessels traversing the Caribbean Sea.
GEA officials had confirmed that instructions for the fuel export licence to be issued had come from the Office of the Prime Minister. It was highlighted that while the amended Petroleum and Petroleum Products Regulations of 2014 allow for applications to be made for an export licence for fuel, China Zhonghao was noted to be the first.
Vice President Jagdeo has nonetheless filed a $50 million lawsuit against Su Zhi Rong over the statements that he made in the Vice News report. The VP’s attorneys described the statements as “defamatory and slanderous.” The lawsuit outlined that the said words were calculated to disparage Mr. Jagdeo personally and in the office, which he now holds. Owing to what was said in the documentary series, Jagdeo has suffered public condemnation, humiliation, ridicule, and embarrassment, the legal document claimed. Jagdeo and President Irfaan Ali have agreed that there should be an investigation into the Su allegations, supporting similar calls from several prominent individuals and civil society groups.
