Days after ExxonMobil defended being a client of the law firm co-owned by the newly elected Leader of the Alliance For Change (AFC), the Guyana Government maintained that this relationship constitutes a “serious conflict of interest.”
Earlier this week, President of ExxonMobil Guyana, Alistair Routledge, told reporters on the sidelines of an event that the company does not believe there is any conflict of interest with them being a client of Hughes, Field and Stoby – the law firm that Nigel Hughes is a partner of.
However, Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that while Routledge is entitled to his opinion, this position will not fly with the government.
“He’s entitled to his views but if he thinks that his expression that there is no conflict between the two parties or conflict of interest involved here is a view that will prevail with us, he better think again… Exxon is a conflicted party itself… What else do you expect them to say? So, it’s like they want to judge their own conflict, whether there is a conflict here, and they can’t do that,” Jagdeo contended.
After Hughes was elected as Leader of the AFC last month, there have been mounting criticisms over the conflict of interest between his professional and political careers.
This was further exacerbated after the attorney said that he would remain with the law firm, which has represented ExxonMobil in negotiations with the Government of Guyana including on the lopsided 2016 oil contract until he is elected to office and would even put his client’s interest above the country’s.
Hughes later told reporters at an AFC press conference that he would keep the party’s oil and gas matters at arm’s length.
Obscenity
However, the Vice President pointed to the obscenity of Hughes’s statements and argued that this can easily turned into paying for policy influence.
“How could you, as a leader of a party, not pay attention or talk about oil and gas now in this contemporary context when that’s one of the most topical issues… Exxon is a conflict party too because they have on their payroll, in the country of Guyana, the leader of a political party that is represented in the National Assembly [and] has a number of seats in the National Assembly, and therefore, in a position to have a say on policies…”
“Exxon pays Nigel Hughes ‘ostensibly’ for legal services but we don’t have in the public record, how much they pay him. That figure could easily be inflated for work not done and may have all the bearings of a legal payment but it is a political contribution to him and his party to ensure that the interest of ExxonMobil is protected in any future government or even in the National Assembly now. How is this not a conflict of interest?” Jagdeo questioned.
Against this backdrop, the Vice President assured that the Guyana Government will be reaching out to the United States oil major on this matter soon.
“ExxonMobil will hear more on this matter from us at the appropriate time and place. Today is not the time and place. But they will hear from us. We believe it’s a serious case of conflict of interest. It is paying for influence in policies,” he asserted.
Investigation
VP Jagdeo had previously hinted that there could be an investigation into Hughes’ involvement in the negotiations of the 2016 oil contract. He had cited what he described as some “telling” details that are contained in several reports done back then that contradict his claim that he had already resigned from the AFC when his law firm was representing the oil company.
A report done by United Kingdom-based global law firm, Clyde & Co., revealed that Hughes resigned as AFC Chairman on April 11, 2016 – just three days before the concluding stages of the contract negotiations.
According to the report that was commissioned by the coalition government to defend the oil contract it signed with Exxon – a deal that many industry experts said has left Guyana short-changed with sweeping benefits going to the US oil major and its partners, those negotiations began almost a year earlier in May 2015 while Hughes was still serving at the helm of the AFC.
Rubbished
During a press conference last week – his first since being elected to the helm of the AFC last weekend, Hughes had denied that there were any conflicts since he never directly participated in the negotiation process. He added too that the Exxon account is handled by another partner at the law firm.
However, Jagdeo on Thursday rubbished this explanation, pointing out that as partner Hughes still benefits from the fundings of the oil company. In fact, while Hughes is claiming that he has no direct dealing with Exxon, the Vice President showed that just days prior, the attorney had appeared virtually on a court case as one of the lawyers representing the oil company.
“We will keep pointing out what he wants to hide… We take this conflict-of-interest issue very serious,” Jagdeo stressed.
In addition to this conflict-of-interest issue, Hughes had also sparked a contentious debate after the no-confidence motion was passed in the National Assembly against the David Granger-led Coalition Administration back in December 2018.
Central to this debate was Hughes’ argument that, mathematically, one-half of the House when divided stands at 32.5 members. His argument, which was subsequently disproved by the High Court and Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), was that 34 and not 33 was the majority of the 65-Member Parliament, and so 33 yes votes were not enough to pass the No-Confidence-Motion.
Hughes’ legal argument had resulted in a worsening of the already existing legal and procedural challenges, since the then A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) government had used it as a central argument in their legal challenges to the No Confidence Motion, significantly delaying the country’s electoral process.
Hughes has also previously faced conflict of interest controversies, such as back in 2013 when he announced his resignation from the AFC Chairmanship. At the time there were reports of his role as the company secretary of Sithe Global, the company that was then a major investor in the US$858 Million Amaila Falls Hydro Project.
At the time, the AFC along with the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) had had a combined one seat majority in the National Assembly and had been using this to block the then People’s Progressive Party.
