Latest update January 18th, 2025 7:00 AM
Benn claims GECOM bungled handling of multi-million procurement fraud
– ignored recommendation to hand probe over to the police
There are moves afoot within the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to move on from revealing Auditor General’s report into allegations of over $100M in procurement fraud at the election agency.
GECOM Commissioner, Robeson Benn
This is according to People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP) – nominated GECOM Commissioner, Robeson Benn.
“My recommendation was that GECOM should turn the matter over to the police because you are not even getting documents. You are getting different stories as to what may have happened in terms of the paper trail for documents,” Benn 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.
According to Benn, the audits were examined by the Admin and Finance sub-committee of the seven-member Commission. However, he noted that there was a decision to ‘more or less move on’.
“My position remains that it should be turned over to police for professional detective work and whichever way it turns out, it would be a warning to the agency that the Commissioners take these allegations of fraud seriously,” Benn noted.
Justice James Patterson (ret’d) took the reins as GECOM Chairman last year October with the Auditor General’s report on his desk that detailed the allegations of procurement irregularities at the Commission.
Auditor General Deodat 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. Benn stated that he is unhappy with the situation because the Commission has not brought closure to the issues.
Sharma is preparing a file to be submitted to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) based on his findings.
“I know there was a statement in the press by the Chairman that if the Auditor general wants he can carry the matter to the police. I have to point out as I did at a recent meeting that we have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the integrity of the accounts of GECOM and so in the first instance, it is our duty to turn the matter over to the proper authority for a thorough investigation,” Benn noted.
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.
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