Reviews of the Auditor General Reports for the APNU+AFC Coalition’s tenure in government continue before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Attorney General Anil Nandlall has urged the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) not to let revelations of financial crimes simply remain on public record.
The Attorney General said further investigations should be initiated and former and current public officers found blameworthy of wrongdoings should be charged and placed before the courts.
Among the recent revelations, PAC on Monday heard that in 2019 some 1,194 cheques worth a staggering $791.1 million were discovered in a safe in Region One instead of being returned to the Consolidated Fund.
Nandlall said this and other non-compliance with Guyana’s Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA) amounts to criminal acts.
“Charges are going to be filed. These files will have to go to SOCU. These are financial crimes and they are going to be investigated,” Nandlall said.
According to the report, Section 34 of the FMAA requires that at the end of each fiscal year, unexpended public funds issued out of the Consolidated Fund be returned.
“Audit checks revealed that 1,216 cheques totalling $802.813 million were printed on behalf of the Regional Administration for December 31, 2019. An inspection of the Sub-treasury’s safe on January 22, 2020 revealed that there were 1,194 cheques on hand totalling $791.109 million. These cheques should have been refunded to the Consolidated Fund,” the Audit report revealed.
In addition to the revelation on cheques, millions more are unaccounted for or disbursed in overpayments and Nandlall believes it is demonstrative of the level of corruption under the former APNU+AFC government.
“These are not going to be left on public record like this,” Nandlall said even as he pointed to similar practices in other regions.
“No wonder they want PAC to proceed with haste and hurry because they don’t want these details to be disclosed… it is a time-consuming exercise but we will not proceed with these matters with haste,” Nandlall said in defence of his government colleagues’ scrutiny.
“It will be done with expectancy… but with due diligence to ensure that these financial irregularities, fraud and scandal are discovered, are revealed, are disclosed publicly and will be investigated,” he added.
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