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Mar 08, 2014 News
“The Securities Council has been very economical with the truth – Badal
Chairperson of the Guyana Stockfeeds Inc, Robert Badal, has lashed out at the Guyana Securities Council (GSC), over what he calls, a misleading notice it has published in the media.
According to Badal, the GSC’s notice is based on an incorrect premise, and is thereby misleading.
The GSC Advisory informed the public that although the company had claimed in an Interim Report that it had paid dividends totaling $80.3M for the financial year 2012, it was brought to the GSC’s attention that several shareholders had not received dividend payments.
Badal notes too that the GSC further informed the public that it had contacted the Company, and was told by its Attorney that no dividends had been paid.
“The GSC then required the Company to correct the incorrect Report and to disseminate the correction in the same manner as it had done in the initial Report, and that the Company had not complied with the GSC’s requirement… It concluded by advising shareholders to seek independent advice.”
Badal has since responded saying that the “the GSC has been very economical with the truth.”
According to Badal, what the GSC did not tell the public was that although dividends totaling $80.3M had been approved by the Company at Annual General Meetings in 2011 and 2012, and the funds were deposited in a special account for distribution, one shareholder, namely, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), had obtained two injunctions ex-parte from the High Court, restraining the Company from actually disbursing payments to shareholders.
NICIL is headed by Winston Brassington.
According to Badal, the GSC was told that one of these injunctions was discharged by the High Court for non-disclosure (concealment of material facts from the court) and the Court is yet to rule on the other.
Badal said that out of respect for the Orders of the Court, Guyana Stockfeeds Inc. has not made any payments.
“The Company did not comply with the GSC’s request, as there was nothing erroneous in the Report.”
He noted that after an initial publication of the Advisory, the Company sought and obtained professional advice that contrary to the GSC’s assertions, the Report was in full compliance with applicable internationally-accepted accounting standards.
“Accordingly, the Company wrote to the GSC informing it that the Company’s Report was not in fact incorrect, and that the GSC’s Advisory was, therefore, based on an erroneous premise…The Company then requested of the GSC that it clarify the situation as caused by its misleading Advisory.”
According to Badal, the GSC has failed to do so and the Company has no alternative but to conclude that it has no intention of doing so. As such, Badal said that the Company has no choice but to place the facts within the public domain, so that members of the public may evaluate the situation and the Advisory for what they are.
“It is regrettable that a Regulator – when confronted with its own error, appears reluctant to admit it and to properly advise or inform the public…It is even more regrettable that the GSC, armed as it was with all of the facts, did not simply direct shareholders to check with the Company’s offices, rather than to knowingly publish a misleading Advisory.”
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