Audit fears

Dec 10, 2025 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – It is clear that the PPPC Government fears with a passion the timely release of audit reports. When an audit report is kept from the public for more than half of a year, what is there to hide, what is there to fear? An audit for US$19.6B in ExxonMobil’s expenses was completed almost seven months ago, and it is same old story, same extended runaround and delay. Tellingly, it’s the people owning Guyana’s oil wealth, who are taken advantage of by their own government. The Guyana Government seems more committed to pleasing ExxonMobil, putting its concerns first, and that’s it, Guyanese can make all the noise they want.

For a political group that is so committed to delivering vast amounts of propaganda to pull the wool over the eyes of Guyanese, it is ironic that the PPPC Government is so nervous about releasing completed audits. We think that if the audit of the US$19.6B gave ExxonMobil a clean bill of health, that all the participants in what is now the regular audit dance, would have found a way to give the nation a glimpse of the report. Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat and Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, would have ensured that Guyanese got a peek of what the audit team led by VHE Consulting reported. Good audit news for ExxonMobil would give its partner, the PPPC Government, the space to breathe a sigh of relief. There would be little anxiety in dealing with the independent media and probing questions from its members, no fright that answering could lead to politicians trapping themselves.

No shoveling of questions about the status of the US$19.6B audit report over to the captive Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA). The GRA cannot step forward and share any detail, unless it gets clearance from the political controllers. What has happened before with other audits of ExxonMobil’s billions in expenses is happening again. There is the turntable that begins with the auditors, continues to the responsible politicians, and then terminates at the GRA, where more technical inquiries are conducted. That’s what Guyanese are getting again for an audit that should report clearly and convincingly on what and how ExxonMobil spent US$19.6B of their oil money. Sheltering behind the GRA and holding up such a huge audit report has become part of the game that the PPPC Government has gotten better and better at playing. The politician who appointed himself oil sector head, Jagdeo, ensures that nothing stays too close to him. In Natural Resources Minister Bharrat, Guyana’s self-appointed oil czar has a quick learner, a man of the same mind as himself. Any development, like multibillion dollar audits, that has the potential to get sticky, is quickly passed on to the GRA to buy time. Never take responsibility, never go above and beyond and admit to knowing, and never tender any apology.

The fact that this largest audit, in terms of dollars, has been cloaked in secrecy for so long, indicates that all may not be well in how ExxonMobil accounted for the billions claimed as expenses. It could be that the questionable or the suspicious (the unacceptable) contributed in some manner to the ongoing delay. The VHE Consulting team did not come in for much applause in a prior audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses, so the team may have been more probing, and uncovered more that just had to be flagged. US$19.6B affords a longstanding corporation like ExxonMobil a considerable number of square yards in which to operate, and it may not have been to the benefit of this country’s treasury. For a country like Guyana, where many citizens are struggling to make ends meet, US$19.6B is a sizable chunk grabbed out of their precious oil patrimony under the banner of expenses. ExxonMobil is certainly within its rights to so, but only for legitimate expenses, and when accounted for in the proper manner.

We would love to hear government leaders being the foremost voices in the push to get audits done, and done right. Every audit finding could represent a dollar discovered, and half of that coming to Guyana’s coffers. When billions are involved, Jagdeo and Bharrat shouldn’t be pussyfooting around audits, but demanding that findings are released.

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Audit, ExxonMobil, fears, PPPC Government

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Audit fears

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