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Several entities owing billions to Govt. slipped under Auditor General’s radar – Goolsarran
Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran
The 2017 report of the Auditor General provides a schedule of entities which are indebted to the Government. But it appears as though a few entities might have slipped under his radar.
This was recently pointed out by Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran. According to Goolsarran, the report of Auditor General, Deodat Sharma only names the Guyana National Printers and the Ogle Airport as the entities owning the Government $100M and $366.308M respectively as at December 31, 2017.
But Goolsarran pointed out that there are a few other cases which the Auditor General should take a second look at. In this regard, Goolsarran highlighted that the construction of the Skeldon Estate Factory was financed by loans to the Government of Guyana from the Exim Bank of China and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The former Auditor General said that these loans were transferred to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) based on on-lending agreements. He noted that the Government also provided a direct loan to GuySuCo for the construction of the Factory. In addition, the Caribbean Development Bank financed some of the corporation’s drainage and irrigation works under the same on-lending arrangements. Therefore, GuySuCo’s total indebtedness to the Government as at the end of 2016 was $19.930 billion.
Similarly, as of end of 2012, Goolsarran said that the Guyana Power and Light was indebted to the Government in the amount of $20.831 billion, in respect of loans for infrastructure development – $5.940 billion. There is also a PetroCaribe loan to the tune of $13.899 billion, and on-lending agreements based on loans from the Inter-American Development Bank.
The Chartered Accountant said that there may be other entities that are also indebted to the Government. He is of the view that this is an area that needs a second look.
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