VHE confident detailed Exxon’s audit report can withstand the highest levels of scrutiny from any of the authoritative bodies

Jun 07, 2024 Letters

Dear Editor

Mr. Glen Lall is his relentless attack on this government continues to use the VHE audited report, 2018 -2020 as springboard for his specious and incendiary remarks. Fueled by this obsession, Mr. Lall demonstrates a reckless disregard for facts and a complete lack of understanding of the audit process.

In a recent article “Glen Lall Questions absence of Exxon Major Expenses from 7.3 B audit report “Kaieteur news June 4^th, Mr. Lall seems to imply that there was some grand scheme to cover up or to withhold pertinent information concerning the results of the audit. Editor, nothing could be further from the truth. Here are the facts. A little over a year ago I appeared on a Kaieteur News Radio programme hosted by Kiana Wilburg.

At the time of the interview, the audit report was still under review and had not been made public even though it was clear that someone had leaked the report. On that programme I stated clearly that I would not pre-empt my client (the Government of Guyana) and discuss the details of the audit report, further I stated that I was not authorized by my client to discuss specific items in the report. This decision was based in part on my ethical and professional responsibility and respect for my client.

There were no hidden agendas, no cover ups and no conspiracies. No one has ever asked me to withhold information, nor would I honour such request. In fact as Project lead, I was granted complete autonomy to develop and build my team, conduct the audit, and report thereon without interference.

Further, Mr. Lall claims that examinations of certain costs were missing from the report. Once again Mr. Lall shows a profound lack of understanding of the audit process and the purpose of a report. For the record, an audit report does not highlight every cost examined during the engagement, rather it highlights only the exceptions i.e. questioned costs that the auditors determined are not reimbursable under the Production Sharing Agreement. Mr. Lall can rest assured that during examination and field work the VHE team reviewed and examined all major costs. There is no way for one to look at and audit report and determine which costs were examined, the VHE team has detailed work papers that underpins our approach and corroborates our findings. We are confident our detailed report can withstand the highest levels of scrutiny from any of the authoritative bodies.

Floyd N. Haynes
VHE Project Lead

Publisher’s note: I never accused Mr. Haynes or his team of not conducting a professional audit. All I said publicly was that the report the government released to the public did not include major expenditures by ExxonMobil, which he talked about on national radio that his team checked, but did not get permission from the government to speak on. The crooks of the matter here Mr. Haynes is that the government said they have released to the public the full report you handed them. My question to you is very simple: is that the full report you presented to them?

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News