$4.5B Statement of Excess…APNU wants Finance Minister prosecuted over unlawful spending
By Gary Eleazar
Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh’s submission of a “Statement of Excess” to the National Assembly last week to the tune of
Joseph Harmon
$4.5B, representing monies spent by the Executive that was part of the $31.5B that the Opposition had disapproved in the debate on the National Budget in March and April this year is not finding favour with A Partnership for National Unity. Executive Member of the coalition, Ronald Bulkan, during a press briefing at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition yesterday told media operatives that the Minister’s resort to Section 41 of the Fiscal Management and Accountability (FMA) Act is not justified. Christopher Ram, an eminent Chartered Accountant and Financial Analyst as well as Former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, have both rejected the Finance Minister’s assertion that the expenditure is justified under the FMA Act. Conceding that he is now a lawyer, Bulkan said that the legislation is still very clear and that in defining how monies can be drawn from the contingencies fund it must be for unavoidable and unforeseen circumstances. He drew reference to the fact that the 2014 Budget which is technically the Appropriation Act was brought into being by Government with the changes and as such had committed itself to the expenditure contained in that piece of legislation. “When the Minister of Finance laid amended Appropriations Bill in the National Assembly he did so voluntarily and he took into account the items that were not approved by the National Assembly,” said Bulkan. He added that the National Assembly acted within its remit, in the context of the ruling of Chief Justice (Ag), Ian Chang, that the House only had the power to approve or disapprove of the various programmes in the Budget. According to Bulkan, what has instead happened from April to present is that the Government has been spending taxpayer’s
Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh
money unlawfully. “Really and truly the document that Minister Ashni Singh has laid in the National Assembly is actually a rude document…It is contemptuous of decisions made in the National Assembly,” said Bulkan. He was adamant that APNU will resolutely defend the laws of Guyana and not allow the Government to continue to proceed with this pattern of unlawful spending. According to Bulkan, it is the National Assembly that controls the purse strings and as such the Minister’s actions are unlawful. Goolsarran had also recently accused the Minister of being personally liable for $700M, which was not approved between 2011 and 2013. According to the Former Auditor General, “This represents unauthorized expenditure and a loss of public property for which appropriate sanctions are provided under the FMA Act. Asked to respond to this, Joseph Harmon, who was also on the APNU panel, told the media that the time is close where people who are responsible for expenditure of public monies will face the courts for infractions. “I don’t think there should be any dancing around this point…If you take public money and you spend it in your own way you should face the music.” According to Harmon, Guyanese will have to require that this is done. “They (Guyanese) see low officials in small time theft or misappropriation of Government funds are hounded down,
Ronald Bulkan
they are taken before the court …there should be no exception for any Minister who is responsible for that type of activity, they should also face the court.” He was adamant that Ministers who take tax payer’s dollars and spend it as if it were their own without the approval of the National Assembly “should also face the court and I believe that Dr Ashni Singh should be on his way there.”
