Ministers allowed private investments, but cannot use influence for personal gain – VP

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday explained that ministers are allowed to own businesses but they must declare their income to the Integrity Commission.

Further, he stated that they must not use their influence for personal gain.

Jagdeo was questioned on the matter during his weekly press conference.

He said, “we made it clear that there should not be any conflict of interest in the discharge of your work.”

Jagdeo explained that a lot of the ministers had private businesses prior to working in public office.

One such minister is Deodat Indar, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works.

The Vice President said he had met with Indar prior to assuming office and asked him to “disengage” from a business which operates in the oil and gas sector.

“He [Indar] came back and said he will remove himself and that’s what he did,” Jagdeo noted.

He added that Ministers of Government were forewarned about using their positions to influence the award of contracts for companies they may be associated with, especially those operating in the sectors for which they are responsible.

“If you earn money from a company in which you have shares, first of all, in the integrity commission report, you have to declare whether you have shares in companies, if you make a false declaration there, you go to jail,” Jagdeo said.

“That is the position now. Not that people cannot own investments anywhere, if they take their money and buy shares in a particular company…they can’t use their influence to steer business to that company and they can’t be in their own sector or ministries,” he added.

The Vice President went on to remind that clear cases of conflict of interest occurred under the former APNU+AFC administration. Providing an example of such cases, he referred to former Minister of Telecommunications Cathy Hughes who had signed off on contracts and payments to a company – VideoMega Productions Limited – registered in her name.