AG brushes off BK’s claims of vendetta

– in case of “vulgar” give away of state asset

ATTORNEY GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affair, Mr. Anil Nandlall described as
“vulgar” the terms under which BK International acquired the wharf located at Water Street,
Georgetown.
The sale price for the Water Street property was ‘gifted’ to the BKI according to Nandlall who
argued that the Eddy Viera wharf, just six miles down the river from that owned by BKI, and is a
quarter of that size, was sold for US$18M (G$3.6B).
BKI purchased the disputed property for G$20M (US$100,000) when its value is pegged at
US$40M (G$8B).
“How can I be accused of being vindictive?” Nandlall queried.
“That is the most vulgar abuse of state assets and the most vulgar abuse of state power by that
Minister who vested that title and that transaction is one of the most reprehensible transaction
done by a government in any part of the Caribbean. I ask anybody to go and check it and that is
only a drop in the ocean because I have more actions that I am going to file, not only against
BK,” he signalled.
Mr. Brian Tiwari, owner of BKI, complained of unfair government treatment on the now-
disputed real estate the state wants to reclaim. But Nandlall heaped scorn on Mr. Tiwari’s
assertions.
“What is so vindictive about that? Have you read my court document?” the Minister asked
rhetorically.
“The court documents outline a litany of breaches committed by that company from 2006
straight unto 2020,” Nandlall explained.

BK’s alleged infractions forced the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government to
pursue legal action against BK since 2014 but lost the National and Regional polls the following
year. The David Granger administration, apparently, never followed through on the litigation
while it was in office from 2015 – 2020.
Instead of following up with the legal action that were already instituted the APNU+AFC
administration rewarded BK by selling the property for the outstanding rent that was owed on the
property, Nandlall revealed.
“In 2014 we took them to court for not paying their rent. Rather than prosecute that case which
was already in the court when they took over in 2015, what they did was to reward the breach by
selling the property to the man and you know what they accepted as the purchase price was the
outstanding rent from 2006 to 2017, which was $200M,” the Legal Affairs Minister said.
According to Nandlall, “on top of that they accepted only 10 percent on the signing of sale and
then proceeded to vest title for that entire property though they only received 10 percent of the
purchase price.”
To add insult to injury, BK, Nandlall said, was also given the property “free from any liabilities”.
The AG promised to “follow through” on the repossession move against the griping Tiwari.
The government Minister said after the PPP/C administration sealed a deal with BK
International, the mega-firm failed to adhere to the terms of the pact. Nandlall said under the
accord, BKI agreed to invest some US$6M (G$1.2B), which would have created employment
and add several modern facilities to enhance the environment around the waterfront property.
“They rented on the condition that they were supposed to invest US$6M to construct a series of
facilities including a cinema, a shopping mall, a water front resort and a whole host of other
facilities to the value of $6M US. It was supposed to employ a number of Guyanese in that
project, then they were supposed to pay an annual rent.”
None of it they paid,” the AG disclosed.