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GECOM Chair says corruption will not be condoned under his watch
…maintains Auditor General should take procurement fraud allegations to DPP
Chairman of the Guyana Elections Commission, Justice James Patterson (ret’d) has vowed not to preside over a fraudulent Commission.
Patterson took the reins as GECOM Chair last year October with an Auditor General’s report on his desk that detailed allegations of procurement irregularities at the Commission.
“I am not going to encourage fraud; get that clear. However, it has to be manifested to be that fraud has been committed. I know what the allegations are and there is a cogent response to all of that,” Patterson told Kaieteur News.
The GECOM Secretariat 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.
Audits were conducted at GECOM following the 2015 General Elections. The Auditor General’s office prepared three reports based on its investigations into the procurement of radios totalling $100M, the purchase of pliers and the procurement of toners.
GECOM Chairman, James Patterson
“Let us say there existed cogent reasons which the law would say that some fraud had been committed. You think I would endorse it or hide up anything? No, no no,” Patterson stated.
Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, is preparing a file to be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) based on his findings. On the other hand, the seven-member Commission has formulated a sub-committee, which is reviewing the AG’s report together with the response to the report prepared by Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield.
Sharma had insisted that the Commission turn the report over to the police, but Patterson insisted that he was not going to adhere to any directions from the AG on how to deal with the report.
“My view is that Mr. Accountant General wanted the Commission to refer to the DPP because the Commission would have weight. Our sub-committee is still looking in to it. The responses that were given on the report are compelling and quite comprehensive.
“There is no concern as to how long it takes because it will not interfere with the work of the Commission,” Patterson stated.
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 a number of 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 also 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.
Patterson stated that there is nothing wrong with the procurement system used by GECOM.
“You don’t interfere with what’s working. We are working with the procurement system that was there all the time,” Patterson stated.
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