H@RD TRUTHS BY GHK LALL – The Ramdihal and Haynes’ audit

Nov 07, 2023 Features / Columnists, News, The GHK Lall Column

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Kaieteur News – The Ramdihal & Haynes (et al) audit team did justice by the Guyanese people in its US$7.3 billion audit exercise.  I commend them all, from Ramdihal to Eclisar Financial to Vitality Accounting, and to Martindale that rendered timely and valuable assistance.  A special hand is extended to Mr. Floyd Haynes for delivering, despite the limitations under which the audit team operated. To be clear, “limitations” is what I interpret to be the conditions that the Ramdihal & Haynes team had to deal with, manage. Manage it did.

Also, I owe one to Mr. Haynes, for the misgivings that were more than a few.  Moreover, I now wonder where else this audit team could have gone, and what more it could have found, if the circumstances under which its members functioned were more expansive and explorative. It is more than a pound and a penny that the team reported among its many findings, some of which take the breath away for sheer audacity on the part of Exxon.  It was more than arrogance, there was aggressiveness in what was billed to Guyana, and how much the Guyanese people would have been cheated had the Ramdihal & Haynes team fell down on the job or decided that it would be more fortuitous to look the other way.

The facts, as buttressed by a range of findings, covered party time by Exxon’s people with Guyana’s oil money squandered on cognac and cigars.  To dirty dancing time with Exxon’s fun-loving workers getting down while using Guyana’s oil proceeds as a deep petty cash canister.  To marketing and propaganda time through Exxon’s legion of skilled wordsmiths and videographers constantly ringing up the Guyana oil cash register, to help themselves from the rich pickings of a prostrate country.  And, to crumpets and puppets and any kind of dog and pony show that only the hustlers at Exxon could dream up, and charge back to Guyana’s oil revenues.  There are more of these shenanigans that are made even more outrageous due to the fact that Guyana was gripped, like the rest of the world, by the unforgiving claws of the COVID-19 pandemic.

To think that a partner that is holier than thou would sink so low, and then still claim that these all have a bearing on its oil operations in the Stabroek Block.  Whisky swilling and smoking (most likely more than cigars), and on Guyana’s dime. Come on, gimme a break…. I have said enough, and now I think it is timely to move on, as Guyanese would have gotten the drift of what they are dealing with in Exxon.  They have gotten the clearest picture (yet) of how this company and its people look at Guyana and Guyanese, and it is as if they have found the dumbest suckers in the world to make rings around.

It is good to read and learn that there are Guyanese (and others) who stuck to their professional best, and pushed back at Exxon, when it tried to justify its expenses for some things that truly staggered, bills that had nothing to do with oil operations.  In defense of Exxon, I suppose a case could be made for some of the spending on exercise facilities and classes contribute to healthy minds and healthy bodies for its people, which certainly goes a long way in enhancing oil operations in the Stabroek Block.  On the other hand, I denounce with a vengeance the spending of a single nickel of Guyana’s oil revenues by Exxon to mesmerize the world with the splendor of its success in Guyana, and from the high-quality, cheap oil that gushes up from the seabed.

I am glad to see that Ramdihal & Haynes, Inc., did not rollover and play dead or waited for a tickle on their bellies from Exxon’s people.  Guyanese will never know what Ramdihal and Haynes may have uncovered if the audit team was given a freer hand, relative to the terms of reference for the review of the company’s bills.  In addition, if the team was allowed more time, there is no telling how many more millions of unacceptable expenses it would have found.  Exxon people would not have had merely egg on their faces; each one of them living off the fat of this land would have been forced to walk around with a toilet bowl on their heads.  Indeed, this is an indication of the lowness of the tricks that they tried to pull on the Guyanese people, through these shady expenses.

It is interesting to note that Ramdial & Haynes took the opportunity to call into question the system (tedious and demanding) that Exxon uses to record its travel and other expenses.  Interesting because the auditors made sure that the powers that be in Guyana know that they [Ramdihal& Haynes] have the hang of things in Exxon land, and that that would be unbeatable, and a good head start for upcoming audits.  I like that, and would recommend that, under one condition.  Let there be a full-blown, forensic audit of Exxon’s next set of expenses, so that Guyanese can see for themselves if Exxon is a scoundrel or a saint, as the company claims.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of this newspaper and its affiliates.)

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• Eclisar Financial, GHK Lall, Guyanese, Martindale, Ramdihal & Haynes, Vitality Accounting

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