Civil society grouping Article 13 has called on the Auditor General to withdraw his “clean” audit opinion on the financial statements of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) for the years 2020 and 2021.
The group said that it is making the call following a review of the financial statements for the Fund for the 2021 fiscal year.
Article 13 said that as part of its review, which was conducted by professional accountants within and outside of Guyana, a determination was sought as to whether the audited financial statements complied with the Natural Resources Fund Act of 2021.
“Article 13 has been advised that the Act has not been complied with to the extent that the taxes paid by the Minister of Natural Resources on behalf of Esso, Hess and CNOOC under the 2016 Petroleum Agreement have not been properly accounted for. Paragraph 4 of Article 15 of the Petroleum Agreement requires that the first appropriate portion of the Government’s share of Profit Oil be applied as payment in full of all taxes paid by the Contractors.
“The financial statements of the NRF for the year 2021, and comparative for 2020, show no withdrawals were made from the Fund for the taxes payable by the oil companies for the year 2020, estimated at more than G$20 billion. It was, therefore, inappropriate and incorrect for the Auditor General to issue a ‘clean’ audit opinion on the financial statements of the Fund for either or both years,” a statement from the group noted.
The grouping called on Auditor General Deodat Sharma to do “the professional thing” and withdraw his opinion of the financial statements citing non-compliance with the law. They said that the opinion can be reissued, noting that it would not be the first time that the Audit Office has withdrawn and reissued an opinion.
“We are also concerned that based on information available to the public, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) would have issued receipts and certificates to the oil companies for monies as tax payments which it did not receive. The GRA must provide evidence to the public as the bearers of the liability for the tax payments, that it did receive such monies and that the certificates were properly issued.”
Article 13 was cognizant that the GRA may assert that it is prevented by the Income Tax Act from communicating the tax information of any person to any other person, except as authorised by the President.
As a result, it said that it will be writing to President Irfaan Ali asking him to authorize GRA to release the particulars of the certificates issued for the various taxes paid by each of the oil companies in 2020, 2021 and 2022, to them. It added that the President can also request the Minister responsible for Petroleum the release that information in the same detail.
The Natural Resource Fund is unprecedented in its importance to Guyana and Article 13 said that it views with dismay the cavalier attitude being taken by the PPP/C Administration to comply with its own legislation.
