Auditor General probing gov’t failure to put Exxon signing bonus into Consolidated Fund

Deodat Sharma

Auditor General Deodat Sharma has started investigating the failure by government to transfer the US$18 million signing bonus paid by ExxonMobil last year to the Consolidated Fund, in keeping with the Constitution.

“The minister should have mentioned, if he isn’t putting it in, what is the reason and he didn’t do that,” Sharma told Stabroek News yesterday.

“I am currently working on what happened. You see it is only Sunday that Exxon said definitely that the money was paid. I had been following the story before but it is just that I was waiting to get the information and confirmation. It [the money] is receipts for the Consolidated Fund and according to the Constitution, [Article] 216, all the monies collected should be stated. If it was not, then it means that the assets and liabilities statement of the government is understated or the cash book is understated by that amount. It should have been paid into the Consolidated Fund,” he added.