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Report on ExxonMobil US$9B audit for December – President Ali
Kaieteur News – The US$9 billion audit of oil giant ExxonMobil’s expenses, between 2018 and 2020 will now be ready by next month, according to President Irfaan Ali.
President Irfaan Ali
The Head of State, at the sidelines of an event on Friday, was asked to give an update on the audit since the process should have concluded since September.
Notably, the Government did not issue a statement to update the public on this new position. Ali told this newspaper that the review is still ongoing and was delayed due to the “coordination issues” among the auditors.
The President explained, “I know the audit is ongoing. I know they had some delays but I’m sure the audit is ongoing. A week ago I found out about what is happening and the response was that it’s ongoing.”
He added, “They expect the first report before the end of December and the delay was because of coordination issues with the auditors themselves which is natural in these circumstances so before the end of the year we expect the first report.”
On May 24 last, Government inked an agreement for a four month review of the bills handed to it by the oil company.
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 is supported by International firms- SGS and Martindale Consultants for the ‘Cost Recovery Audit and Validation of the Government of Guyana’s Profit Oil Share’.
The audit will cost Guyanese some US$751,000. Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat had assured that the findings of the audit would be made public.
This is particularly important as the public is unaware of the outcome of the audit of the US$460 million pre-contract costs, which was done by IHS Markit. The contract to the UK firm had cost US$300,000.
Nevertheless, Bharrat told media operatives that Government will rely on the findings and recommendations of the Report to take ‘appropriate steps’. While qualifying the Government’s decision to use foreign companies on the Review Committee, the Minister explained, “The technical company is needed because our local auditors might be very familiar with the auditing (of) basic expenses (such as) fuel, meals, transportation, but when we are talking about jumpers and risers and Christmas trees, FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel)and these technical terms obviously, will need that kind of technical knowledge and expertise onboard to assist them to have a thorough exercise being done.”
He added that there will be new arrangements for future audits even as the Government seeks to conduct annual and even bi-annual cost reviews for ExxonMobil.
After the contract was signed, Opposition Economist, Elson Low noted that once completed, the Report on the US$9 billion audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses should be made available for parliamentary scrutiny. He said that this is particularly important as the four months timeframe to complete the audit, remains questionable.
In fact, Low 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.
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