A fund that had been established by Region Nine for economic ventures was also used to provide advances to regional officials, contractors, soldiers and policemen and money is still to be repaid.
The 2011 Auditor General’s Report on the Public Accounts of Guyana noted that the Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) administration had established Special Project Fund Account No.688-100-7 at Republic Bank (Guyana) for economic ventures.
According to the report, during the period 1997 to 2008 “contractors, a former Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Vice Chairman and members of the regional democratic Council, Guyana Police Force, and Guyana Defence Force received personal advances”.
A total of $7.541M remained outstanding as of December 31, 2007. As of December 31, 2008, that figure had come down to $7.402M.
When asked about this, the region told the auditors this year that amounts totalling $2.908M pertained to persons who are now dead but that action was still being taken to have all of the outstanding amounts recovered.
The audit office recommended that regional administration redouble efforts to recover the money or have the outstanding amounts cleared.
