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In face of court challenge… Govt. stands firm on keeping US $18M bonus outside of Consolidated Fund
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan speaks with reporters outside Parliament Chamber
Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, yesterday doubled down on Government’s decision to maintain a separate account for the US $18 million signing bonus from global oil giant, ExxonMobil, amidst a new court challenge to have the monies transferred to the Consolidated Fund.
Head of Transparency International Guyana Inc. Dr. Troy Thomas, has moved to the High Court seeking an order to direct the Government to transfer the Exxon bonus to the Consolidated Fund. Thomas is being represented by Chris Ram, who was the first person to publicly state that Government had collected a signing bonus.
For months, Government had repeatedly refused to acknowledge the presence of the bonus until a leaked letter surfaced. The letter was from the Ministry of Finance directing the Bank of Guyana (BoG) to establish an account to hold the monies from Exxon.
“We will defend it. That is the most I could say, but we can’t comment any further,” Jordan told reporters before he entered the National Assembly.
He stated that there were no deliberations about transferring the monies from the current BoG account to the consolidated fund, pointing to the previous statements from President David Granger and Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman, about the funds being specially set aside for Guyana’s legal fees in the border controversy with Venezuela.
“The money is there for a particular purpose when that purpose comes about, the monies will be transferred to the Consolidated Fund,” said Jordan. He noted that the Consolidated Fund is a general purpose fund.
“You put money in there, it can’t be earmarked. It is used for any and all purposes. The Consolidated Fund is in deficit. If you put that money [Exxon bonus] in there all it does is reduces the deficit,” the Finance Minister stated.
Ram had previously stated that the police must be called in and President Granger must issue an apology to the nation for the diabolical act committed by his Ministers.
He said that the forced admission by the Government is a shocking revelation of a conspiracy to deceive the people of Guyana about billions of dollars, involving a galaxy of ministers.
The Chartered Accountant said that there are immediate and longer term implications of this saga from which Guyana may forever suffer. For the immediate, Ram said it means that Article 216 of the Constitution of Guyana has been knowingly violated.
He went further, to state that critical information contained in the Estimates of Expenditure which was passed by the National Assembly in December was inaccurate, incorrect and meaningless; that the 2016 financial statements of the Government and of the Consolidated Fund are for 2016 similarly deficient; that the Report of the Auditor General thereon is inapplicable and that auditing standards applied by his Office requires him to withdraw his report.
Ram said that the financial statements and the auditor’s report of the Bank of Guyana for the year 2016 face the same jeopardy; and that this web of deception has ensnared high level officers of the Ministry of Finance, the Geology and Mines Commission and the Bank of Guyana, including the Chairman of its Audit Committee Mr. Anand Goolsarran.
The Exxon funds and the surrounding circumstances also attracted the attention of Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, when the letter addressed to Central Bank Governor, Dr. Gobind Ganga, and dated September 20, 2016, surfaced.
Finance Secretary, Dr. Hector Butts, who wrote the letter, made it clear that the Bank of Guyana should not treat the money as part of its reserves. The letter showed that a request was made for the opening of a foreign currency account to receive a signing bonus from ExxonMobil.
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