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Jagdeo supports penalties for public servants on infractions flagged by AG but maintains free pass for ExxonMobil
Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana (GoG) will be taking stiff action against public servants that were flagged by the Auditor General (AG) in his 2022 audit report for infractions. This stern position was communicated by Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday during a press conference at Freedom House.
He said, “For example, the audit office says we have not seen the vouchers for this expenditure then obviously the Minister has to bring in the (Regional Executive Officer) REO and say where are the vouchers to now take it to a different level.”
Jagdeo continued, “If you can’t produce the vouchers then two courses of action; you have to give an explanation, if the explanation is not plausible as the accounting officer for the region you face consequences, financial consequences or it could be referred to the police, one of the two if he finds that its adverse so that sort of action I expect.”
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo
During his press conference, the Vice President informed that he spoke with the Minister of Finance who has since assured that he will “personally take corrective action” against any adverse findings of the AG.
According to Jagdeo, “We see the audit report as a tool for management and that’s how we are approaching it.”
While the VP has cited his support for penalties to be instituted on citizens of this country for infractions flagged by the AG, he does not support the same course of action for the Fortune 500 American oil company, ExxonMobil.
Consecutive audit reports have so far flagged the company for multiple breaches of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed with Guyana, however the VP previously explained that this company will face no sanction; instead, it will only be required to return the monies it recovered from Guyana’s oil.
The agreement expressly states that the revenue generated in the Stabroek Block must only be used to pay for development within those borders; however, auditors discovered that the company brazenly used the monies to cover unrelated expenses.
In October, an audit report—drafted by a local consortium Ramdihal & Haynes Inc., Eclisar Financial, and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc. and bolstered by the international support of SGS and Martindale Consultants—gave a meticulous breakdown of five instances where the Stabroek Block’s financial resources were used for Kaieteur –a block Exxon walked away from this year –as well as Canje.
When asked to comment on the issue however, the VP would only say, “I maintain my position that it would be illegal and I repeat that. The audits would have revealed that now and as I said before, there will be consequences. If you did unauthorized work, you don’t go to jail according to PSA; it just doesn’t form part of the cost bank.”
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