Acting Auditor General Deodat Sharma is to dedicate a special section of his 2011 report to examine issues related to the government holding company, the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) and the Lotto Funds and will meet with his predecessor Anand Goolsarran on these matters.
This was revealed yesterday during a half day forum hosted by Transparency International Guyana Inc, entitled ‘Citizens Charter: Good Governance – Good Business,’ held at the Moray House, Camp and Quamina streets.
The 2011 report is due to be presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly in September.
At the forum, Sharma was grilled as to whether he has sought independent advice as to the constitutionality of the fact that NICIL’s funds are not put into the Consolidated Fund but are used by the government without parliamentary approval or oversight.
According to sources, NICIL has not filed annual reports with the Deeds Registry for over 20 years. “Has this tendency by the government, including billions of dollars moving directly from the Consolidated Fund to the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited, caused you any concern and have you sought independent advice – not from the Attorney General because, as you know, you are a constitutional office and you should not be taking advice from the Executive, the Attorney General, as you did with the Lottery Fund. Have you sought independent advice as to the constitutionality of this office and, if not, is it because you agree with [it]?” asked Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram.
Sharma said he has not sought independent advice. He added that in the yearly Auditor General’s report, the Audit Office covers and reports on audits of NICIL. “But NICIL is a separate company and it is being audited separately. So what happens with companies like NICIL and GINA and GPL is that the minister responsible would lay those reports independently in Parliament. I think, to date, NICIL itself has been audited up to 2004 and I think up to 2003 was laid in the National Assembly,” he said.
“These issues of NICIL and the fund are raising a lot of comments from members of the public and in my 2011 report I will be having a special section where I will review the whole issue, including all the sales and all the proceeds that were given to NICIL,” he said.
Speaking at the forum, Goolsarran said that he does not think that the intention of NICIL was to collect money, to retain money, and to spend money. “I am very hopeful that in [compiling] your 2011 report you will go back and see the document that created NICIL and to see whether it is operating in accordance with that or to the extent that it is not, then I am sure that you will raise that as a concern,” said Goolsarran.
He insisted that all public revenues should go into the Consolidated Fund and those, he said, include what NICIL garners. “To the extent that that is not happening, I have a serious concern…because the Consolidated Fund is managed by the National Assembly in the sense that they have to sanction all the expenditure,” he explained.
“But who is guaranteeing that all the monies that should go into the Consolidated Fund [goes there]?” he asked. “The other example is the Lotteries Fund and you know my views,” he added.
‘Flawed’
The AFC recently wrote Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh requesting details and statements on balances with respect to NICIL and Lotto Funds.
Referring to the advice on the Lotteries Fund of then Attorney General Charles Ramson in the 2009 Auditor General’s Report, Goolsarran said, “I don’t know if you had sought the advice of the then Attorney General or whether he volunteered that advice, I am not sure. But obviously the then Attorney General’s advice is flawed.”
In the 2009 Auditor General’s Report, Ramson is quoted as saying, “There is therefore no legal obligation to transfer monies from there into the Consolidated Fund. This fund, however, is subject to an audit by the Auditor General under the provisions of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act of 2003.”
However, Goolsarran disagreed. “The 24 percent gross proceeds from the sale of lotteries are like a licence fee and the money should go to the Consolidated Fund. That should not have been retained and even if that were retained, only Parliament has the authority to sanction expenditure. Even if you retain it and you put it in another bank account, you ought not to spend that money unless you get parliamentary approval,” he said.
“Mr. Auditor General I hope you can look into these things and look into our interest. I am a private citizen and I am asking that you look into our interest,” he further stated.
Sharma said that he would have been having a meeting with Goolsarran to speak on the various issues that his predecessor raised. Sharma added that he will also be approaching the current Attorney General Anil Nandlall on this issue.
Polar Beer case
Presently, the Audit Office is investigating a number of frauds, he said. He noted that efforts are being made to change the laws to allow the Auditor General to send its reports directly to the Director of Public Prosecutions, with a copy to the Commissioner of Police. He said that what presently takes place is that the files are sent to the Commissioner of Police who sends it to the DPP. “The reason that we are doing this is because sometimes [it takes a long time] to bring these matters to court. And when [the matters do come] some are dismissed for very trivial reasons,” Sharma said. Giving an example of one such case, Sharma said that the Police investigating rank in the Polar Beer $300 million fraud case had an accident and this caused the entire case to be thrown out. “Somebody else should have been taking over that case or at least know what was happening,” he said.
He said that the Audit Office is currently finalising two Value for Money (VFM) audits. “We have now commenced one on a review of the operation of the National Board of Procurement and Tendering Administration and another on the assessment and management and control of drugs and medical supplies at the Ministry of Health. I am hoping that these two reports would be finished shortly and be presented to the Speaker of the National Assembly,” he said.
“My personal view is that we need more of these VFM performance audits out there,” he said, noting that the Audit Office is continuing to have training for its staff in this area.
He said that the Audit Office is trying to get to its authorised staff strength of 227 and has been gradually adding to its staff complement year by year.
