Senior Counsel Roysdale Forde said his efforts to locate the Commissioner of Information Senior Counsel Charles Ramson Sr. are proving futile. This was after he requested information on the contract of Mr. Gopnauth ‘Bobby’ Gossai, the senior Petroleum Coordinator at the Ministry of Natural Resources. It all unfolded following the discovery of an attempt to reduce the US$214 million audited sum to US$3 million in favour of oil company ExxonMobil.
The audit in question addresses the expenses of ExxonMobil for the period 1999-2017. Speaking with this newscast today Forde explained his reasons for requesting Gossai’s contract.
The opposition’s Shadow Legal Affairs Minister in the National Assembly maintained that Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and Minister of Natural Resources Victram Bharrat should resign. He strongly believes that Gossai is used as a scapegoat.
He said too that that legal action has not been ruled out against the commissioner of information in this bid to get answers he is seeking.
Gossai for his unauthorized negotiations with ExxonMobil will lose fifteen days’ pay according to the Natural Resources Ministry.
Further, given the public criticism, government said it was sticking to the US$214 Million sum by the London based Audit Firm IHS Markit.