‘Ghost employees’ suspected on Region One payroll

Apr 02, 2018 News

…REO must provide proof by Tuesday

Are there ‘ghost employees’ at Region One?
An investigation is underway to ascertain whether some 68 persons on the payroll of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) of Region One (Barima Wini) really do exist.

Regional Executive Officer (REO), Leslie Wilburg leaving the PAC after a grueling session of questions.

State auditors have found that dozens of persons were paid without National Insurance Scheme (NIS) numbers and Tax Information Numbers (TIN) certificates. This situation was highlighted when auditors examined the region’s accounts at the end of 2016.
Despite promising to provide employees with their NIS and TIN, two years later, Regional Executive Officer (REO), Leslie Wilburg told the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) last Monday that the matter was still to be fully addressed.
PAC Member, Juan Edghill requested the REO to provide information to allay fears that the employees exists.
“I would like to have verification that these 68 persons exist because if they don’t have their TIN certificates and they were being paid, PAC would want to be satisfied that they exist,” Edghill stated.
Wilburg had previously committed to addressing the matter by having the affected staff sign the requisite forms when uplifting their salaries. This was not done and PAC Chairman, Irfaan Ali, scolded the REO.
“From 2016 to now you cannot complete this. Getting the TIN certificate for the employees from 2016 to now,” Ali stated.
The REO replied, ‘No’. Ali asked the REO if he found the situation acceptable to which the REO said no. According to the REO, the location of the staff made it difficult to conclude the situation.
Wilburg then told the PAC that not all of the application forms for the 68 employees were submitted to Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). However, he could not say when the applications were submitted and how many were submitted.
“You have the staff there and you are telling us that you are following up on it since 2016 and basic information as to how much and when you can’t provide to the PAC,” Ali stated.
The PAC members agreed that the REO was not ready for the meeting.
“When you come back you will have to tell us how many [TIN applications] were submitted and when they were submitted. If you come here and the application being submitted after the 26th of March then I would have to make serious recommendations as PAC chairman because you have been dancing all afternoon and I am not going to sit here as chairman and allow this committee be danced around,” Ali stated.
The PAC expressed concern over statements made by the REO which suggested that 857 persons were being paid by when in fact the budgeted allocations approved by Parliament catered for 811.
It was pointed out that the additional staff would have been paid out of an account under the Ministry of Finance.
Edghill cautioned that the Auditor General’s major function is to check to see what monies were appropriated by the National Assembly and to ensure it is expended in keeping with the rules and financial laws of the country.
“If there are variations it would have meant that a financial paper which is an amendment to the Appropriation Act would have had to come to the house to show that under this line item there is a supplementary provision made to finance additional expenditure,” Edghill stated.
Ali questioned whether there was ‘some money floating that could have been diverted for other things,”
He requested the REO provide along with the information, the supplementary financial paper to cover the additional staff that was not appropriated for in the 2016 budget, but were paid in 2016.
The REO has up until Tuesday to provide the PAC with the requested information.

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