US$9B audit report should be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny

US$9B audit report should be subject to Parliamentary scrutiny – Economist

Jun 05, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Once completed, the report on the US$9 billion audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses should be made available for parliamentary scrutiny.
This is according to an economist, Elson Lowe, who said that this is particularly important as the four months timeframe to complete the audit remains questionable.
Lowe, who is attached to the Office of the Opposition Leader as an advisor on youth and economic issues, told Kaieteur News that having access to details of the audits should be where the public focuses its attention.

Economist, Elson Lowe.

His comments come days after the Government of Guyana signed a contract for a four-month review or audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses between the years 2018 to 2020 that has already been billed to the country.
The consultancy was awarded to VHE Consulting which is a registered partnership between Ramdihal & Haynes Inc., Eclisar Financial, and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc.
The Local Consortium will be supported by International firms- SGS and Martindale Consultants for the ‘Cost Recovery Audit and Validation of the Government of Guyana’s Profit Oil Share’.
During the signing of the contract, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat told reporters that once complete, the audit would be made public. He could not state whether the report would be tabled in the National Assembly as he explained this was dependent on the contract signed with the oil operator.
However, Lowe said that not only should the audit be made public but the parliamentary oversight committee such as the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should be privy to the details of the expenses so that the National Assembly can publicly debate its findings.
He said that this is the level of transparency and accountability that will leave no question about Exxon’s oil spending unanswered.
“Exxon and its partners have presented to Guyana very hefty bills, it is only fair that the details of the expenditure be made available for public scrutiny and when I say this, I don’t mean that the raw information contained in possibly hundreds of bills which amounts to the billions that Exxon claims it spent on production should just be handed to the public…there are forums for this, the PAC and National Assembly provide a suitable avenue for the details of the audit to be examined and scrutinised publicly,” Lowe stated.
He emphasised, “While concerns have been raised over the timeframe that the audit is expected to be completed, I don’t believe that we should concern ourselves so much with the timeframe because if the company has the manpower or the assistance…I believe it could be done, the company would have international partner helping along so it is possible.”
Nevertheless, the economist asserted, “What should be more concerning to the public is that details and information provided to audit passes through some form of public scrutiny because having a locally conducted audit that gives its blessing or approval to the poor spending or fraud of the oil company would be a complete travesty.”
According to Lowe, once the information is made available, there are ways of identifying red flags in Exxon’s spending.
He explained, “There are certain things that will come up in the expenditure that will definitely raise questions about what Guyana paid for. For example, luxury items like first class tickets included in our bills would definitely be something that we would want to question… that’s why I think it would be important for the details provided in the audit to be placed before the PAC and then to a public debate in the National Assembly.”
Lowe is not alone in his views of making the audit details of Exxon’s spending public.
Chartered Accountant and Attorney-at-Law, Christopher Ram has been requesting that the administration takes its efforts a step further and make the details and findings of the audit into the Liza 1 and Liza 2 oil projects public.
In a previous comment to this newspaper, Ram had noted that it would be in the best interest of Guyana to have the details of the expenditure in the open. He noted that US$9.5B is too huge a bill for the country to foot without even knowing what it is paying for.
Further, the Chartered Accountant said that when the details of the audit are exposed then Guyana will be better able to track the spending for future projects.
“It’s all in the interest of good governance… Hopefully, it gets done as soon as possible so if there are adjustments to the spending, for instance, if any incorrect costs are allocated, we can make the appropriate adjustments,” Ram had said.
While other local individuals and civil society groups have also implored government to share certain information regarding the oil and gas sector.