Despite a court order preventing the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) from enforcing the suspension of the operating license of the Mahaicony Rice Mills Limited, the milling entity continues to face numerous hindrances from “the powers that be.”This notion was articulated on Thursday by General Manager of the Rice Milling entity, Brandon Barton, during an interview with Kaieteur News yesterday.According to Barton, his company was forced to take the matter to court,Cheap Jerseys From China, which granted a stay on the GRDB decision on June 30 last, preventing the enforcement of the suspension.Barton disclosed that the GRDB is still claiming that it has the right, regardless of the court ruling, to withhold the operating license of the entity.Recounting the circumstances that led to the suspension of the license, Barton admitted that the company had in fact engaged a practice which may be deemed inappropriate to some persons.He explained that since the entity commenced operation in Mahaicony some nine years ago, a plan was adopted whereby the mill would afford farmers post-dated cheques for purchased paddy.“Normally, they are supposed to bill us; but in this industry it is common for people to do an invoice on behalf of the farmer. That invoice has an agreement, which the farmers sign, that states that the farmer will be paid in 90 days. They are also advised to call before they attempt to encash their cheques, to ensure that sufficient money is available.”This particular practice was inculcated, Barton said, because of the remote location of the mill, in order to reduce the inconvenience to farmers.But even though 90 days is allotted for the payment to the farmers, he divulged, it is intended that farmers be paid progressively. Thus, by the end of the stipulated period, farmers should be in receipt of the full amount due them.And according to Barton, the mill is required to purchase large quantities of paddy, valued at billions of dollars, an amount that no banking institution in Guyana can finance.“If you ask a bank here for $300M it is a problem. So, since no bank will say ‘take this money,’ it is based on our trade that farmers will get paid,” Barton asserted.He noted that the industry is of such a nature that it is almost impossible for one to deliver the product and be paid on the same day.This, he said, materialised during the recent crop, when farmers attempted to encash post-dated cheques. These cheques could not be honoured since there was no cash in the accounts.“We give them cheques today for payment three weeks from now. Nobody knows what will happen. If they check with us and money is not available, we would tell them to check another day.”However, the situation saw the plight of the farmers being brought to Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, who wasted no time in chiding the entity.Yesterday, Barton admitted that in principle the practice engaged by the entity may not have been very appropriate, and thus assured that it will not be continued in the future.In trying to find a solution to the problem, Barton said, it was brought to the minister’s attention that the entity could pay off the farmers if it is able to recover a sum of about $30M which the Guyana Revenue Authority owes it.Barton said, “The minister,Cheap China Jerseys, in effect, wrote a letter in the newspaper and lambasted us. He said that there is no connection with the VAT office owing us $30M and our payment to farmers, because we should have known at the time when we wrote the cheques if we would have had this money.”In fact, Barton said, the reality of the matter was that, at the time that the cheques were written, the company was calculating and was aware that its cash flow had an outstanding $30M.However, Barton added, when it was thought that the minister had done his worst, the minister informed that he would be instructing the GRDB and the police to take necessary action.“Soon after, a letter from the GRDB arrived, signed by its General Secretary, Mr Jagnarine Singh, stating that our operating license has been suspended for issuing bounced cheques,” Barton noted.But, according to Barton, there is no clause in the Rice Factory Act that stipulates that failure to honour a cheque was grounds for the suspension of an operating license. He said that it, however, does state that an entity should be given a hearing, and discussions should ensue as to the root cause of the problem, in order to find a solution.“We expected that the minister,Wholesale Jerseys China, before putting something in the papers and taking the action he did, would have at least called us in and helped us find a solution…He didn’t…”He also pointed out that, even with the order granted by the court, the entity has been prohibited from carry out business,<a href="http://www.nflj