Barama willing to hire Independent auditor

Barama willing to hire
Independent auditor

• surprised at President's statements
Kaieteur News, 10 October 2007
As the forestry fallout continues, local logging giant Barama said it
is willing to hire an independent audit team to probe its own records
following accusations by the Government that it has breached
regulations.

Following Monday's disclosures by President Bharrat Jagdeo that an
ongoing probe has found evidence of collusion between Barama, forestry
officials and concessionaires, new Chief Executive Officer Peter Ho, at
a press conference at Cara Lodge yesterday, expressed surprise over the
allegations and argued that any discrepancies found may have been a
reconciliation issue.

“Under no instance has the company intentionally breached any
procedures. Perhaps it is just an administrative and reconciliation
issue. We are more than willing to engage with the GFC (Guyana Forestry
Commission) to resolve this concern and find an amicable solution.”

The company yesterday also denied that it has taken logs from Guyana 's
reserves.

“The news reports come as a surprise because, as a responsible and
law-abiding corporate citizen, we operate within the confines of the
law.”

With Barama's Chairman Girwar Lalaram out of the country, it was all
left to the new CEO to field the media questions yesterday.

Mr Ho said that if, during the investigations, intentional violations
are found, the company will not hesitate to take “extreme measures to
correct the situation.”

Commitment

With Barama operating in Guyana for almost 15 years, Ho pointed out,
this period has been without any serious non-conformity issues being
raised. The company has current investment of well over US$100 million.

“Our long term investment strategy includes reducing log exports, which
have high shipping costs associated with them. At the same time, Barama
is continually finding new ways to market lesser-known Guyanese species
to the global market to increase the export of more value-added wood
products.”

The company has invested US$27 million as capital expenditure in the
last two years, and is contributing over 50 per cent of this country's
timber exports, Ho pointed out.

With plans to increase its volumes overseas, the company expects to
create some 200 more jobs within one year. Further, Barama said, it
“strongly believes that the recent allegations need to be addressed and
explained in a timely manner. As a company with long term vested
interest in Guyana , we will continue to act in a lawful manner.”

Accusations

Although the company has not officially protested the statements of
President Jagdeo, Ho said that he is awaiting his Chairman's return
from overseas before formulating a response.

The CEO acknowledged that Barama could make mistakes, since it was a
case of people dealing with documents. But he stressed that any
discrepancies would be unintentional since, with the amount of
investment that the company has in Guyana , it would be foolhardy to
try anything.

Further, the official said, the company is ready to provide any
information and is willing to open its books for perusal. Ho admitted
that the accusations by the President will have some fallout with
overseas buyers who will be querying them. The good news for Barama is
that no markets have been lost so far.

In response to accusations that Barama has logged in government
reserves, the CEO said this was absolutely untrue.

With regards to accusations that Barama's roads are closed to the
miners, Ho called on Guyana to give the company a chance since several
new systems are being implemented with the company looking to move away
from its traditional exporting of logs to more value added products.
Barama's CEO, Peter Ho