Goolsarran shreds AG report

Dec 02, 2025 News

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– says “copy-and-paste” reviews undermine Pres. Ali’s transparency boast

(Kaieteur News) – An analysis of the 2024 Audit Report conducted by former Auditor General (AG), Anand Goolsarran has unearthed disturbing findings, which not only questions the quality of review done, but the conclusion by President Irfaan Ali that the country marked “significant improvement in transparency and accountability” over the period.

In his Monday column ‘Accountability Watch’ published by the Stabroek News, Goolsarran presented arguments which casts serious doubt on the work done by the audit office.

Raising doubts about the report, the former AG highlighted, “There are 11 statements comprising the consolidated public accounts of Guyana, signed by the accountant general and the Minister of Finance in accordance with Section 73 of the FMA Act. The auditor general qualified his opinion on two statements – Statement of Current Assets and Liabilities of the Government; and Financial Report of the Deposit Fund.”

A qualified opinion is one in which the auditor has reservations of a material nature that affect his/her assessment of the completeness, accuracy and validity of the amounts shown in the financial statements, and of their fair presentation.

Goolsarran noted, “Like so many other areas in the auditor general’s report, the section dealing with the deposit fund is entirely a copy and paste of previous years’ reports, including explanations from the Ministry of Finance, with an update of the respective amounts at the end of 2024.”

As such, he pointed out that this raises the question whether any real audit was undertaken in respect of this and other accounts.

Goolsarran explained that Section 42 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act requires the minister to establish one or more deposit funds into which public moneys are to be paid pending, repayment or payment for the purpose for which the moneys were deposited.

“Total deposits amounted to $7.471 billion, out of which advances totalling $15.590 billion were made. Therefore, there has been a deficiency of $8.119 billion…also, amounts of $2.302 billion and $3.586 billion were shown as Miscellaneous Deposits, and imprest and cash on hand, respectively, details of which have not been explained,” the former AG flagged.

He continued, “As regards the assertions by both the president and the auditor general that there was significant improvement in transparency and accountability and in particular an improvement in the rate of implementation of recommendations, a review of the auditor general’s latest report tells a different story. How can we speak of such improvement when the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is yet to report on the examination of the public accounts for the last six years, 1.e., from 2019 to 2024?”

Goolsarran reasoned that as the former chairperson of the PAC during the period 2015 to 2020, the president is fully aware that public accountability does not end with the presentation of the auditor general’s report to the assembly.

He therefore questioned the award of several major contracts by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB) which failed to meet several criteria set out in the Procurement Act and bidding documents.

Goolsarran went on, “And how do we explain significant over-payments to contractors, which in 2024 amounted to over one billion dollars, compared with $300 million in 2023, notwithstanding the claim by the auditor general that the amounts involved were subsequently recovered without providing evidence in support of the claim.”

The former AG noted that there are a number of other areas that can be cited which does not reflect improvement in public financial management.

Recently, President Ali defended his government’s management of the economy, boasting of “significant improvement” in transparency and accountability. He noted that 81 per cent of 2023 audit recommendations were fully or partially implemented, compared to the APNU/AFC’s 2015-2019 term, when 83 per cent of recommendations went unimplemented.

“Because of our approach, the auditor general had no reason to warn the government about the poor implementation of recommendations from prior years, in reports from 2020 to 2024, demonstrating our resolve to act on audit findings and uphold the principles of transparency and the rule of law,” he stated.

President Ali pointed out that accounting officers have already begun implementing recommendations in the 2024 AG report, but further to that, the government has made other notable achievements. According to him, “From 2022 onwards, 100 per cent of overpayments detected during audits were fully recovered before the audit report was finalised.” He was keen to point out that over 70 per cent of overpayments under the previous coalition administration were never recovered.

The president boasted that although government’s spending increased rapidly, overpayments were less than 3 per cent in 2023 and 2024, reflective of the training provided to public sector employees.

Regarding breaches in the procurement act and regulations, Ali highlighted the marked reduction reported by the AG, while breaches to the fiscal management and accountability act also declined.

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• AG Report, Anand Goolsarran, Audit, copy and paste, QUALITY

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