Company Director caught on tape telling third party that ARI boss must ‘pay his dues’

Apr 25, 2021 News

GUYOIL fuel scandal…

…as senior official instructs dealer to delete evidence of WhatsApp conversation

Kaieteur News – A Guyana Oil Company (GUYOIL) Director has been caught on an audio recording of a telephone call not only confirming aspects of the fuel transaction at the centre of the recent scandal that has rocked the State company, but also guaranteeing to a third party that the dealer must ‘pay his dues’ for the transaction.

GUYOIL Director, Akanni Blair.

GUYOIL Director, Vishnu Bandhu.

Additionally, this paper is in possession of a series of screen-captures of what is purportedly a WhatsApp conversation between a senior official at GUYOIL and the dealer, Jayson Aaron, principal of Aaron Royality Inc. (ARI), in which the deal is discussed and during which the official instructs Aaron to delete the conversations.

ARI Boss, Jayson Aaron.

These new developments come in the wake of an internal probe, and the possible intervention of the Auditor General’s office, into the supply of some US$3.4M in fuel by Aaron Reality Inc. to GUYOIL. The probe was launched during the past week after GUYOIL General Manager, Trevor Bassoo, tendered his resignation on Monday as reports of the transaction surfaced implicating him in the deal. Bassoo had told this publication that he tendered his resignation to the Board after reporting “matters of concern.” He had called the public reports at the time implicating him, a smokescreen to deflect from the issue at hand – he has not since been implicated. The fuel in question was being sourced by GUYOIL for the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) Corporation, which had reportedly been met with a shortfall of fuel and required the emergency shipments.

The recording
In the recording, which has since surfaced, a voice which one internal source has confirmed to this publication as a specific Director of Guyoil could be heard going over details of the deal with someone the Director refers to as ‘Chrissy’, believed to be a go-between between Aaron and GUYOIL representatives, for the supply of two shipments of 31,000 barrels of fuel each.

In the recording, the Director could be heard telling ‘Chrissy’ that GPL had utilised its buffer stock of fuel, which had to be replaced and told the man, “…it looks like we will be on for the seventeenth (April).”
Chrissy responds “Excellent, excellent” to which the Director replies, “We are just looking for confirmation.” The confirmation, he noted, was with the “GPL Chairman” with whom the Director said he was headed out to get breakfast at Princess [International Hotel]. To this ‘Chrissy’ says, “Aye man, oh rass buddy well leh I come an eat something dey buddy” to which the Director responds, “Bai, Chrissy, Chrissy you time coming, you time coming, rest yuself.”

‘Chrissy’ then enquired “How ah getting the change, duh is wha ah wan know” to which the Director responded by indicating he would try to finish up his breakfast at the Princess Hotel early before heading to make a drop off. He quickly changing his mind however to say, “Watch, ahmmm, I gun gah, I gun tell duh man he gah give you a money bai, I gun call Aaron and tell he let he give you a money for setting up the deal.”
According to the Director, “He (Aaron) got to do it, he got to do it, he got to pay he initial dues.”
‘Chrissy’ at this point sought to query “but we gone through clear deh though?” in relation to the agreement for ARI to supply the fuel to GPL, to which he was told by the Director “We good, we good,” a reaction met with laughter by ‘Chrissy,’ who then reminded the Director to call Aaron to drop the money: “Tell he, you can’t make it, tell he drop the thing for me right, you boy ain’t got $20 in he pocket, literally me ain’t got $20, but god is good bai.”
At this point, the Director consoled ‘Chrissy’ sayind “don’t cry”, to which he responded, “Nah… me ain’t crying, I praising god” and in between laughter, explained that is there is a difference between crying…and… and reminded “Give he a shout for me and call me back.”

WhatsApp
Meanwhile in a separate exchange, seen by this publication in screen-captures of a WhatsApp conversation, the transaction is also discussed between a senior official at GUYOIL and Aaron, regarding the supply of fuel for the company. The official is identified in the screenshots.

Another screen-capture of the conversation between Aaron and the GUYOIL senior official.

The conversation begins with a message from the official saying, “Good day mr Aaron I understand that you are upset and no answering your phone but I want to understand that is not me it’s MR BLAIR is the person who cause this deal to go sour cause he is the one who talk you down to us and also he didn’t believe you can do it and also it’s he is the person when you left the board meeting that said that we are gonna get more money from the other supplier who is giving you a cut back.”

Aaron responds that he is unconcerned about GUYOIL’s internal dealings and reminds the official that “y’all come to my place Good Friday when I am with my family to request fuel that was an emergency”, and that he was encountering problems with getting a purchase order from and his invoice being signed off on.

In response, the official tells Aaron that he “broke the rules” by sending the invoice and that since there was nothing written, that “you can’t win”; the official advises Aaron to keep quiet and he would ensure that he would get his money. Aaron had last week issued several ultimatums to GUYOIL to conclude the transaction with him or he would expose that officials of the company had contacted him to procure the fuel and that there was some corrupt aspects to what was subsequently required of him to secure the deal.

In multiple parts of the conversation, the official indicates that he is new to the post and that he needed time to adjust: “Please don’t do anything, now I started this job 12 weeks ago not looking to get into problems now when we can make money every month for the next 12 months.”
When told by Aaron that he was only looking to get paid what was due, the official indicated that payment was not a problem. “I have 50M in my account and your business us is jus over 3m so it’s not about the money; I will pay you but your have to keep it quiet all I ask you are gonna make more money that you can ever imagine with me.” The “3m” refers likely the value of the deal, which is in US dollars.

The official exhorts Aaron to “Please remember to delete as we talk I don’t want to call cause I heard you are recording conversations.”

Aaron responds: “So how you know that I am not gonna copy these messages and show anyone…” To this, the official replies with what appears to be an implied threat that Aaron is “a smart person” and that “as long as I say it’s not the way you say it they gonna believe me cause I am deep into the law…”

Aaron responded, “OK, you might be right but I need my business completed and my company payed and you collect your fuel; a big company like guy oil doing these things to people.”

The official in his response indicated “No it’s not like that brother just give me a change(sic) to make it right, I will programme the chairman to make this work for the best trust me ok.”
When asked how much time would be required, the official responded, “give me up to Wednesday.” That was identified as April 14 by Aaron.

This publication understands that the official has since gone to the police to clear his name and has divulged that the conversations contained in the screenshots are not recorded in his phone.

A Second Recording
Kaieteur News is in possession of another recording related to the deal, this time purportedly between Aaron and GUYOIL Director Vishnu Bandhu, detailing accounts of what transpired between him and the other Director from the first recording and the Senior Official, both of whom he met with at his home on Good Friday.

Aaron in the recording could be heard informing Bandhu, not the Director identified earlier, that two company officials did with him and he was offered a deal, “in which they would be getting a kickback.”
According to Aaron, the two officials “…explained that they have an emergency load and they are trying to get this emergency load to push off to GPL.”
Aaron told the Bandhu, who identifies himself in the recording and gives his telephone number, “I then made contact with my usual suppliers that I use and those guys got on it immediately.”
This, he said, was in keeping with a request that the fuel arrive the following Wednesday on April 7. The ARI principal indicated that he was given the specifications for the fuel, which he had received prior, from a separate source. According to Aaron, the specifications had been sent to his Marketing Director—based in the United States—days earlier.

He told Bandhu that the two GUYOIL officials made the request for an immediate shipment but documentation or guarantees could not be provided at the time, only until the vessel arrived. Aaron said that he agreed to facilitate GUYOIL, since it is a government entity. Bandhu when contacted by this publication declined to offer a comment.

Cheong Confirms

Over the weekend, Akanni Blair, a Director at GUYOIL, identified himself as an official who was in contact with ARI, but said that he only acted on the direction of the Board.

GUYOIL Chairman of the Board of Directors, Paul Cheong.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of the GUYOIL, Paul Cheong, has since confirmed that it was he who directed Blair to source a fuel supplier for two shipments that the State company had tendered out for.
Cheong in an invited comment yesterday told this publication that Blair was only asked to provide the GUYOIL’s management with the information for the company, ARI. He told this publication that he did instruct two officials to go ahead and begin the due diligence process for the supply of the two shipments of fuel, destined for GPL.

According to the GUYOIL Chairman, the company in question, ARI, was not known to him until Good Friday last, when a Director and a senior official met with the ARI Principal, Aaron, at his home. Cheong however denied there was any meeting between the Board of Directors and the ARI Principal, as claimed elsewhere.