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…in excess of US$50M gifted between ‘99 and ‘09The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company,Miguel Ponce Jersey, between the period 1999 and 2009 has paid to the Office of the President in excess of US$50M. The Office of the President is not a revenue collection agency.This newspaper managed to secure documents which indicate that the company has had to pay as much as $300M one year.The monies paid represent one per cent of the company’s revenue. There was no stated reason for such payments.Shadow Finance Minister Winston Murray when contacted told this newspaper that he can say without fear of contradiction that no such arrangement was made when the privatisation of the then Guyana Telecommunications Corporation was finalised.He added that he was not aware when the decision was made to have any money paid to Office of the President.That money paid to Office of the President is in addition to the dividends paid to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) a move which has also been criticised.For last year,Justin Morrow Jersey, GT&T paid $1.2 B to NICIL by way of dividends. This money represents payment to Government for the 20 per cent shares it holds in the company. In 2000 the dividends paid was $549M. This increased to $639M the following year,Mariano Andujar Argentina Jersey, further increasing to $675M in 2003 and to $820M in 2004.When contacted last evening a senior source at the Audit Office of Guyana said that any such payment to Office of the President should be reflected as revenue statement but this seems not to be the case.Further revenues have to be paid over to the consolidated funds and this has not been happening.In addition to these payments,Pedro Chelsea Jersey, the telephone company pays $25 million to the Public Utilities Commission each year by way of a regulatory licence. Unused money by the PUC is returned each year to the Public Treasury.GT&T’s current licence comes to an end in January next year and the company has already formally applied to the government for a further 20-year operating license in keeping with the clause in the original contract which allows the entity to apply for a renewal of its license.The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company was privatised in 1991 when Atlantic TeleNetwork acquired majority shares in the company.