GuySuCo Refutes Vinceroy Jordan’s Claims
— Calls Allegations Baseless
September 18, 2024 — The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) has strongly rejected recent statements made by Member of Parliament Vinceroy Jordan, labeling his claims in a September 16 article in Stabroek News as “reckless exaggerations” and “misinformation.”
In its response, GuySuCo criticized Jordan’s accusations of corruption within the corporation, calling them “nonsensical” and emphasizing that GuySuCo is regularly audited by the Auditor General’s Office.
The company has completed its 2022 financial audit and is in the process of completing the 2023 audit. GuySuCo urged Jordan to refrain from making unfounded allegations without factual backing.
Addressing specific issues raised by Jordan, GuySuCo confirmed that an investigation into the Albion Estate Power Plant had been conducted by the Guyana Fire Service.
The estimated cost of GY$600 million, previously stated by Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha, was based on engineering assessments.
The corporation also clarified that procurement for power generator sets and transformers is ongoing, following standard procedures.
Regarding Jordan’s claims of missing sugar at Rose Hall, GuySuCo firmly denied any such incident. The corporation acknowledged a breach in the sugar declaration process, which led to an over-declaration.
The situation resulted in the dismissal of the Production Manager and the Head Laboratory Technician for serious misconduct.
GuySuCo ended its statement by urging Jordan to base his comments on facts, rather than attempting to score political points.
See full statement below:
“RESPONSE TO STATEMENTS MADE BY VINCEROY JORDAN
GUYSUCO BLASTS VINCEROY JORDAN’S FAKE CLAIMS
The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) has read the statements made by Member of Parliament, Vinceroy Jordan in the Monday, September 16, 2024 edition of the Stabroek News.
GuySuCo deemed the article as a reckless exaggeration, full of misinformation, and devoid of facts, clearly indicating an attempt to score political points/mileage.
The question of corruption in GuySuCo as stated by Mr. Jordan is purely nonsensical. Let it be known that GuySuCo is on record to be a Corporation that is financially audited by the Auditor General Office and has completed its last financial audit for the year 2022 and is currently working on the year 2023.
Such statement of corruption therefore is mischievous to say the least. Mr. Jordon should therefore desist from making statements of this nature when he is clearly devoid of the facts and figures.
The following are responses to the questions posed by Vinceroy Jordan, Member of Parliament:
Albion Estate’s Power Plant
Yes! An investigation/enquiry was conducted by the Guyana Fire Service and a report was submitted to GuySuCo. The estimated cost submitted by the Hon. Zulfikar Mustapha, Minister of Agriculture, of 600 million Guyana dollars is an accurate representation based upon the engineering estimates; it must be noted that there are two outstanding items in that of Power Generator Sets and Transformers, both of which are in the procurement process, which GuySuCo always follow the standard operating procedure on procurement.
Mr. Jordan needs to be informed that remedial works conducted on the power plant resulted in the factory being in full production mode for the second crop of 2024.
Missing sugar at Rose Hall
Mr. Jordan also spoke of missing sugar at Rose Hall. The Corporation is tired of his false claim, specifically since there was no issue of missing sugar. However, what had occurred was a major breach in the standard operating procedure for sugar declaration (over a period of time), which resulted in an over declaration. This was deemed as a serious misconduct, which led to the dismissal of the Production Manager and the Head Laboratory Technician.”
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