Barama given guidelines to begin audit
Stabroek News, Wednesday, November 14th 2007
Barama has been given a number of guidelines by which it has to
commission an audit of its operations in the wake of a number of
findings which an investigation unearthed some weeks ago leading to the
company being fined $96.4M.
The Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) and the Agriculture Ministry, some
months ago, began an investigation involving Barama and a number of
smaller forest operators after the GFC's systems checks revealed
instances of under-declaration of forest produce and false declarations
of origin.
Speaking to this newspaper recently, Minister of Agriculture Robert
Persaud said the company had a limited time by which to agree and
accept the guidelines for the independent investigation.
Upon the revelation of the findings, the company had indicated that it
was willing to bring in auditors from overseas to find where the faults
occurred. Barama has been meeting with officials of the GFC and the
ministry over the last weeks with a view to bringing the impasse to a
speedy end.
The company has a self-imposed ban on speaking to the press. But, in a
statement soon after the revelations, Barama maintained that any
anomalies discovered were unintentional and were the result of
operational realities and practices and made the point that it was part
and parcel of operating in any dynamic and geographically challenging
industry.
The statement said that over the past 15 years of operation in Guyana,
Barama has endeavoured to operate strictly within the jurisdiction and
confines of Guyanese laws and regulations. "As Guyana's largest foreign
investor, it is in the company's best interest to adhere to the GFC
forestry practices to ensure the company's long-term presence in
Guyana," the statement said.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, speaking at a recent event, said that if
entities like Barama couldn't follow the rules then they would have to
leave, in keeping with the administration's recent tough stance on
forestry defaulters and the President's commitment to making the
country's rainforest available to fight climate change.
Persaud had said that an interim supply arrangement for the plywood
factory would have been put in place but this would have been
predicated on the ending of sub-contractual arrangements for logs from
other concessions since Barama is believed to have large enough areas
of concession. However, he said that must be done through a process
based on constructive engagement rather than manipulation of issues and
processes and the issuance of threats and reckless statements.
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