(Kaieteur News) – Drowning in financial losses when it was first awarded a US$759 million contract in Guyana to develop the nation’s first Gas-to-Energy (GTE) project, the company, Lindsayca Inc. has been shortlisted for two additional mega projects in the country.
Lindsayca is currently struggling to complete the GTE project at Wales, West Bank Demerara where it is constructing a 300-megawatt power plant and a Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) facility for the Government of Guyana (GoG).
Confidential sources close to the administration have revealed that the GTE Task Force Head Winston Brassington reportedly briefed Prime Minister, Mark Phillips last week regarding the shortlisting of Lindsayca for two-thirds of Phase Two of the multi-billion-dollar GTE project at Wales.
Embattled Gas-to-Energy contractor shortlisted for two more mega projects
The delayed GTE project at Wales, West Bank Demerara
Despite mounting public scrutiny over cost overruns, legal disputes, and regulatory questions surrounding its Phase 1 execution at Wales, sources indicate that Brassington is favouring the controversial U.S. firm for the lucrative contracts for both the NGL plant—valued at US$270,240,411—and the balance of plant bids—valued at US$83,195,973.
Adding fuel to the fire, multiple sources close to Phase 1 and the Task Force note that in direct violation of Section 39 of the Public Procurement Act of 2003 and the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) regulations, an official evaluating committee for these colossal bids has yet to be named by the authorities.
Sources suggest this “rushed presentation” to the Prime Minister is no coincidence, timing suspiciously with the highly anticipated upcoming state visit by Christopher Landau, Deputy Secretary under Marco Rubio.
With the company being positioned to cash in on yet another multimillion-US-dollar deal, Guyanese continue to await the promised 50% reduction in electricity tariffs and more reliable electricity.
The project at Wales continues to drain Guyanese taxpayers with mounting cost overruns, Dispute Avoidance and Adjudication Board (DAAB) payouts, and agonising delays.
Drowning financially
Kaieteur News has uncovered a paper trail that raises serious questions about the due diligence conducted before awarding the major energy deal.
A deep dive into the 2019 United States federal tax returns of Hector and Jesus Fuentes—the brothers at the helm of Lindsayca Inc.—reveals that just prior to bidding on Guyana’s most expensive infrastructure project, the businessmen’s portfolios were operating under severe financial distress.
While the Ali administration was touting the consortium as a world-class heavyweight capable of delivering a seamless power plant, the Fuentes brothers’ personal tax filings show their finances were plagued by negative income, commercial real estate losses, and millions in trapped passive losses.
The 2019 Tax Red Flags
The joint U.S. tax returns (Form 1040s) for both Hector and Jesus Fuentes paint a grim picture of their pre-Guyana financial health. Despite pulling six-figure executive salaries from their companies, both brothers reported zero taxable income for 2019. Their broader financial portfolios sustained such substantial losses that it wiped out their earnings entirely.
According to the official tax documents analysed by Kaieteur News, Hector Fuentes reported an Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) of negative US$48,576. Jesus Fuentes fared even worse, reporting a negative AGI of US$120,500. Both men generated Net Operating Losses (NOLs) that were carried forward into 2020.
The documents show the brothers taking massive hits across their commercial real estate portfolios, including joint dispositions that triggered matching losses of US$170,243 each. Furthermore, Schedule E filings reveal steep operational losses across multiple properties, with each brother reporting over US$222,000 in pass-through losses. Jesus Fuentes also absorbed a US$140,896 short-term capital loss.
Most glaringly, the brothers were sitting on a combined US$12.5 million in suspended passive activity losses—tied up in trusts and underwater real estate ventures that could not be deducted due to IRS limitations.
Their foreign business operations were also suffering. Form 5471 filings for Lindsay C.A., their Venezuelan entity, showed a current year earnings and profits deficit of over 1.5 billion Bolivars for that year. All the while, the brothers were carrying deferred U.S. tax debts exceeding a quarter of a million dollars each under Section 965 repatriation tax rules.
The Cost of Ignoring the Warning Signs
The financial health of the two brothers is important to each Guyanese. Financial stress at the top often trickles down to the project floor.
When a multi-hundred-million-dollar mega-project is handed to executives whose immediate financial history shows millions in suspended losses and negative adjusted gross incomes, it raises legitimate public interest questions about capital fluidity, risk management, and overall corporate stability.
Fast forward to 2026, the Wales GTE Phase 1 project—spearheaded by these very same contractors—is bogged down in logistical nightmares, supply chain issues, and demands for massive budget adjustments.
Rewarding Failure: Shortlisted for Two New Mega-Projects
Although the severe Phase 1 project delays, escalating disputes before the Dispute Adjudication and Amicable Resolution Board (DAAB), and ballooning cost overruns were highlighted, there has been no investigation by the government to move towards debarring the contractor. Instead, the administration appears ready to hand the company another contract.
Rather than pausing to rigorously re-evaluate the contractor’s financial and operational fitness following the Phase 1 debacle, Brassington’s task force has allowed them to bypass any formal debarment proceedings and remain in the running for billions of dollars in future contracts.
Original link posted by Kaieteur News on August 09, 2026
