GECOM Chairman to Auditor General… You know what to do, take GECOM fraud reports to police

Mar 06, 2018 News

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Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Justice James Patterson (ret’d) said that Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, should go directly to the police with allegations of fraudulent procurement practices at the Commission.
A verbally upset Patterson told Kaieteur News that the Auditor General has been attacking GECOM’s Chief Executive Officer, Keith Lowenfield.
“He has been attacking my man [Lowenfield] and I don’t like it. If he [Sharma] has powers to exercise then exercise it; if he gets material to jail the man, then do it. Don’t every week, keep harassing my CEO. I don’t like it,” Patterson stated.
Patterson also submitted a letter to the editor, which appears in today’s issue of the Kaieteur News in response to Sharma’s decision to provide the Commission with more time to review the reports.
Following audits at GECOM following the 2015 General Elections, the Auditor General’s office prepared three reports that included a $100 million purchase of radios, the purchase of pliers and the procurement of toners.
Sharma had recommended that the Commissioners turn over the reports to the police, failing which, he himself will provide the reports to police investigators.
The Auditor General had given the Commissioners until the first week of February to complete their review. Subsequently, Sharma told Kaieteur News of his decision to provide more time to the Commissioners.
Patterson explained that Sharma can’t compel the commission to finish the review within a timeframe.
“[Sharma] is absurd. If he feels that in his capacity as Auditor General there has been some wrongdoing, well he’s got a job to do. I am not going to interfere with his job; don’t let him interfere with mine,” Patterson stated.
Patterson stated that the reports are still being reviewed by a sub-committee of the seven-member Commission. He stated that it would be reckless to provide Kaieteur News with a timeframe for when the Commission will complete its review.
He stated that timelines is of no concern for the Commission, pointing also that he wouldn’t try to reach out to the Auditor General since he is conducting the inquiry.
“He is independent, but what I am against is his pointed attack at the CEO and subtle hints of wrong doing. Then you know what to do, go report the matter to the police; don’t direct us to do it and give us a time limit. I resent it,” Patterson noted.
Sharma told Kaieteur News that he had given the Commissioners more time to deliberate on the reports, taking into consideration that a new Chairman in Patterson was appointed in October.
He added that Desmond Trotman was appointed thereafter as a Commissioner.
The other Commissioners are Robeson Benn, Vincent Alexander, Bibi Shadick, Sase Gunraj, and Charles Corbin.
The GECOM Secretariat, headed by Lowenfield, has been accused of deliberately overseeing a system of procurement irregularities involving hundreds of millions of dollars in purchases – from radios, to pliers and batteries, to toners.
Sharma and his team had descended on the GECOM office to investigate worrisome procurement practices at the entity that overlooks general and local government elections.
One of the activities for the 2015 general elections was the purchase of several communication radios. This particular report raised many unanswered questions.
It was found that less than 90 percent of the radios were used despite the strong reasons advanced by GECOM to the administration for the purchases. Some $100M was spent.
It was found that the radios arrived too late to be deployed for the May 11, 2015 elections.
The report found that on top of that purchase for the radios, which were all outdated, GECOM went ahead and bought 12 satellite phones for use, in case the radios could not be put into operation.
When Local Government Elections were held in 2016, the radios were still not used.
There were other questionable purchases; forged quotations and prices, that were way above market prices paid for several other things.
Some of these included Duracell batteries, nippers, toners for printers, and even office furniture.
The Audit Office found that GECOM breached procurement regulations when they went ahead and evaluated the quotes for the radios without first seeking the approval of the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). This was done after.
In fact, the audit report found that GECOM signed the contract for the radios six days before the elections, making it impossible for the radios to be sourced, delivered, and installed in remote locations and for staffers to be trained.
GECOM, in its defence, said that it could find nowhere in the report where anyone could be found culpable, and that it would be difficult, therefore, to engage the police to pursue criminal indictments.
Among other things, the police are being asked to find out how a quote from one business place ended up in the system, when the company has denied it ever submitted one.

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