Latest update February 3rd, 2025 7:00 AM
Latest News
- Govt. assures Exxon not hiding true oil data
- Sheriff Holdings distances self from convicted fraudster Ed Ahmad over suspicious Ogle land deal
- Trump says Americans could feel ‘pain’ in trade war with Mexico, Canada, China
- Soesdyke man killed after car crashes into truck
- Patterson pillories govt. for reckless spending of oil money
Guyana must conduct thorough audits of ExxonMobil’s bills – Ramon Gaskin
Kaieteur News – As Guyana awaits the completion of a US$7.3B cost recovery audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses between the years 2018 to 2020, some stakeholders are not very confident that this process will bear much fruit for the country.
Economist Ramon Gaskin, who spent several years of his professional career conducting audits, in an exclusive interview with this newspaper on Tuesday said what the country needs is a thorough audit, rather than a team to check the bills it received from the US oil giant, ExxonMobil.
“What we need is a proper audit, a serious audit of the affairs of Exxon. Not what they call checking the bills. No, they need a more serious comprehensive audit of the situation and I don’t get the impression that that’s what we’re getting. What Guyana stands to lose is that you are not going to get a professional audit done and if you do not get a professionally proper audit, Guyana will lose because you won’t get proper results,” Gaskin explained.
Economist, Ramon Gaskin
His comments come on the heels of a revelation made by Financial Analyst and Certified Accountant, Floyd Haynes who is part of the team conducting the audit on behalf of Guyana. He recently sought to assure the public that a forensic audit or a witch-hunt is not being conducted. He explained that, “A forensic audit is with the aim of identifying fraud and embezzlement with the goal of gathering evidence to be used in a court.”
Contrarily, a cost recovery audit is being done pursuant to the parameters of the 2016 Production Share Agreement (PSA) governing the Stabroek Block. “The goal is to verify the accuracy or rather the legitimacy and validity of costs claimed…There is a huge difference so I wanted to clear that up,” he said.
To this end, Ramon Gaskin told this newspaper the report will not be in the best interest of the country.
He said, “The people who are doing the audit will not be able to produce a professional report in the best interest of the country…I have been doing auditing for many years, I know what audits are all about and… you ain’t gonna get no proper audit. The type of audit that is being done is the type of audit that the Production Sharing Agreement allows and checking bills is not an audit really. Anybody can check a bill. You don’t need professional auditors to check bills but that is what is happening now.”
Gaskin was keen to point out that the review process demands more than checking the expenses. He reasoned that it requires a competent team, expertise and knowledge, especially since the audit is intended to confirm some US$7.3B in expenses the country will pay for.
The transparency activist posited, “This is not something you can just rush because you got to go through the thing, the financial affairs carefully and cautiously so you could actually verify those numbers. An audit is really a verification process that is what it means- verifying what they are saying.”
He is of the view that the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government is not serious about verifying the costs that Exxon claims to have spent, since the four months deadline given to complete the process would not be sufficient.
Back in May of this year, Government signed a four month contract with VHE Consulting- which is a registered partnership between Ramdihal & Haynes Inc; Eclisar Financial; and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc. – along with international firms SGS and Martindale Consultants for the ‘Cost Recovery Audit and Validation of the Government of Guyana’s Profit Oil Share’.
This includes costs incurred for the Liza One and Liza Two Projects which are currently producing over 360,000 barrels of oil per day. Importantly, the audit will cost Guyanese some US$751,000.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
The PPP/C’s greatest liability
Peeping Tom Kaieteur News- One might have expected that a ruling party basking in the largesse of oil wealth would chart... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
