The President did not give his approval for DTL's transfer of interest(s)

The President did not give his approval for DTL's transfer of
interest(s)
Kaieteur News, 3 September 2007

Dear Editor,

Why does Mr. Chris Simpson accept the denial of S.K. Chan of Demerara
Timbers Ltd. that DTL has been acquired by Bai Shan Lin (‘Is Janette
Bulkan misinforming the public? Kaieteur News, 1 September 2007) while
not extending equal credence to the confirmation by Bai Shan Lin's
Administrative Manager and Site Manager that Bai Shan Lin had acquired
DTL?

What Mr. S.K. Chan said was that “DTL has a Technical Assistance
Management Agreement with Bai Shan Lin”. This is another instance of
landlording, which is illegal, without explicit Presidential approval
under Guyana 's forest law. Condition 13 of Timber Sales Agreements
states - “The grantee shall not transfer, sublet, mortgage or otherwise
dispose of any interest arising under this agreement except in
accordance with the Forest Regulations, and any purported disposition
made except in accordance with such regulations shall be null and
void.”

Chris Simpson needs to note that Condition 13 refers to “any interest”.
No doubt, the Ministry of Home Affairs will be checking to ensure that
Bai Shan Lin is not, and will not be, replacing or displacing any
Guyanese employees of DTL with foreign workers.

President Jagdeo has since indicated that he did not give his approval
for this transfer of interest(s) under DTL's Technical Assistance
Management Agreement with Bai Shan Lin.

Luckily for Guyana , President Jagdeo has instructed the Guyana
Forestry Commission (GFC) to investigate this transfer of interest(s)
and has not put the word of an Asian logger above Guyana 's forest law.

President Bharrat Jagdeo says that the transfer of any assets of
Demerara Timbers Limited (DTL) to Chinese forest company Bai Shan Lin
has to meet strict due diligence before garnering approval, and this he
made clear to the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC).

“I made it clear that the GFC [must] be involved: this is not an
automatic process,” he said at a recent press conference at the Office
of the President. He added that the GFC would have to establish the
track record of the companies and do the necessary due diligence before
deciding on anything final. He said that the issue was discussed in
Cabinet (Transfer of assets between forest companies must meet
approvals –Jagdeo. SN, Tuesday, August 28th 2007). Chris Simpson also
wants to know why the Guyana National Standard for Forest Certification
is not yet complete.

I was elected the first Chairperson of the Guyana National Initiative
for Forest Certification (GNIFC) in February 2003, and participated in
Working Group and standard development meetings from 2000 to 2003.

Unfortunately, I never had the pleasure of meeting one Chris Simpson at
any of those meetings, but through your columns, I'd like to inform him
that I resigned as Chairperson of the GNIFC four years ago, in August
2003, when I left Guyana to take up a scholarship for doctoral study at
Yale University .

Janette Bulkan