Latest update April 25th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 04, 2016 News
…But Ram maintains that they must be hauled before the courts
By Kiana Wilburg
In spite of blatant violations of the laws by some companies in the forestry sector, there was no
recommendation for the directors of the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) to face disciplinary action. It has left many questioning how those who were entrusted to police the sector could escape any sanction for their negligence.
Forensic Auditor, Anand Goolsarran explained that during his audit of GFC, he did detect a whiff of corruption at the level of the board. He noted however that it was not enough to propose charges or disciplinary action of any kind.
Goolsarran said that under the previous administration, GFC’s professionals were “in a very helpless situation”.
He said this was observed in a number of instances. In this regard, he recalled the interactions between controversial Chinese logging company, BaiShanLin and the GFC Board. Goolsarran stressed that in a number of cases BaiShanLin bypassed the board on certain decisions and contacted the hierarchy of the PPP in order to get its way.
He said, “Of course some might say that the GFC officials condoned some of the acts of corruption in the sector as they turned a blind eye, but what could they have done when BaiShanLin was going to the top people? BaiShanLin had no respect for them so what could the officials do?
“Yes, one can say that there is a whiff of corruption as they turned a blind eye to what was going on, but there is no concrete evidence to tie them to it and so it makes it difficult to actually slap them with charges of corruption or make suggestions for disciplinary action”.
When reminded of the millions of dollars GFC illegally transferred to NICIL’s accounts, Goolsarran reiterated that it would be hard to charge the board in this regard. He was then reminded that in a previous interview with Kaieteur News, in 2014, he had recommended that the said officials at GFC be charged for breaking the Forest laws in this regard.
In an interview yesterday, Goolsarran said, “It is a very hard situation. Indeed the transfer of millions of dollars to NICIL was not permissible and it was against the law. Any transfer from the GFC should be to the Consolidated Fund. But it was not a case where GFC officials misappropriated monies. It was hard for them, they were given directives from above and they had to listen,” the forensic auditor explained.
While Goolsarran holds this view, Chartered Accountant Chris Ram believes that the GFC officials breached the laws and should be made to face the court. Ram insisted that the officials had a fiduciary responsibility to uphold the law. He made it clear that there is simply no excuse for doing otherwise.
Upon doing a detailed analysis of the Annual reports of the GFC for the years, 2005-2012, all of which were laid in the National Assembly in November 2013, Ram and other financial minds found several alarming deficiencies and irregularities.
The reports reveal that for several years, the Commission has been transferring millions to the National Industrial & Commercial Investments Ltd and the Environmental Protection Agency, which is against the law.
Ram contended in 2014 and maintains today, that for the $600 million that the GFC allowed to be paid over to NICIL, all its directors should be hauled before the courts. He said that the combination of NICIL/GFC is not only an insult to the intelligence of Guyanese, but a challenge and an affront to decency.
There was also a published series on the said shortcomings of the Commission’s reports done by Janette Bulkan and John Palmer. The duo also pointed to the NICIL/GFC fiasco. In their detailed analysis, they too pointed to the fact that large amounts of monies, and large variations from year to year between line items in the Commission’s annual reports appear to have been unquestioned by the Auditor General.
Bulkan and Palmer said that no explanation was offered as to why the GFC should be holding over US$4 million in cash each year, and why transfers are made to the Environmental Protection Agency and NICIL, but none to the Consolidated Fund.
They said too that an explanation is still to be given by the GFC as to why it is acquiring and disposing of fixed assets and why it has current tax liabilities of up to US$10 million in a year – dwarfing other line items. They stressed that there is a legal requirement for the GFC to make transfers to the Consolidated Fund (Section 16 (2) in the GFC Act 2007), but no requirement to send money to the EPA or NICIL.
Moreover, Ram had also stated that the GFC is just another example of the perpetuation of former president Bharrat Jagdeo’s legacy of financial lawlessness, a situation that is as wide as it is deep.
He said that the state of financial lawlessness created by the former President, surely allowed for the GFC’s “incomplete and deceptive” reports to be tabled and accepted by the National Assembly without any questions being asked or challenges posed.
Ram asserted that the chaos created is one in which the national accounting body, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana, remained silent even as basic rules of accounting were violated with impunity.
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