A team of auditors from the Audit Office of Guyana will be heading into Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), to acquire and examine documents that pertain to over $111 million in cheques found in a safe, a situation that was highlighted by Auditor General Deodat Sharma, in his 2019 report.
This was discussed during Monday’s sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), where Regional Executive Officer (REO) Kerwin Ward was called in by the committee to give account for the AG’s findings.
PAC member and Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Minister, Gail Teixeira drew the committee’s attention to paragraph 1414 of the report, which pertains to the Audit Office’s January 2020 discovery of 142 cheques totaling $111 Million in the sub-treasury safe.
“No evidence of the payment vouchers and related documents were seen in respect of the cheques cut. As a result, it was difficult to ascertain if the items were delivered and works completed,” the AG report had said.
However, at a previous PAC meeting the REO had informed the committee that the cheques were cleared in January of 2020. Teixeira questioned whether the REO had provided documents to the Audit Office to substantiate this and for due diligence to be conducted.
“Let me remind the REO of the last meeting, where a query was raised about when and how the cheques were cleared in the absence of documentation. The accounting officer informed the committee that cheques were cleared in January 2020 and the queries were attached to the specific vouchers,” Teixeira pointed out.
“The committee asked for the following information from the REO. The date the cheques were cut, the name of the contractors were on the projects. So, the list he gave us complies with that. The date on which the documents were corrected and queries addressed… a copy of the regional engineer’s logbook and the name of the accompanying officer.”
In response, however, the REO noted that while the vouchers were located and payments verified, they were not provided to the Auditor General’s office. Instead, he said that these vouchers are available at the Regional Administration’s sub-treasury department.
At this point, Teixeira asked the Auditor General whether his team could visit the region to acquire the vouchers and investigate them, with a view of clearing the query. At this point, Auditor General Deodat Sharma revealed that a team of auditors would be sent into Bartica to do just that.
“Through the chair, I will have a team visit Bartica shortly to get this query cleared,” the Auditor General, who was present at the sitting, said.
Living quarters
The issue of living quarters owned by the region was also raised at the PAC, with the Auditor General’s 2019 report finding that out of 110 of the 124 living quarters that were occupied by persons, only nine occupants were actually paying rent and three were entitled to rent free accommodation.
According to the Auditor General, no documentation was ever provided to verify whether the remaining 98 officers were entitled to rent-free accommodation and at the time, the region had said they were working to identify these persons. That was over four years ago. Fast forward to today and according to Ward, they were still working to identify these persons.
“An assessment is being done to ascertain who is entitled to rent free… there’s a document with the regional administration, to know all quarters, their locations and who’re occupying these quarters. However, we’re doing some updating now because some of these quarters, officers moved out and new officers moved in. So that’s what we’re updating now,” Ward said.
PAC member Juretha Fernandes, who expressed her displeasure at the length of time it was taking to verify these occupants, requested that the REO be given two weeks to submit this updated assessment of all those occupying the quarters, to the committee. This would include the location and number of quarters and the utilities paid.
Teixeira meanwhile pointed out that the information supplied by the REO must also take into account whether these officers are entitled to rent-free quarters and how long they have been occupying these quarters.
“We’re not interested in just a list of names of people in the quarters. We want to know, are they entitled to rent free or not. And secondly, how long they’ve been there. To go back to Mahipaul’s issue, that is what we’re looking for. Why we want to see the dates as well, is to see how long have they been there, 2019? And were they entitled to rent-free or not.”
“So REO, I think you need to look at putting a proper system in place. And making sure it is implemented, that when people are transferred to the region and are looking for accommodation, the request has to go to you. And then that is approved or not approved,” she explained.
