At PAC meeting…GECOM’s acting CEO in ‘hot seat’ over financial irregularities

AUDITOR General, Deodat Sharma is sticking to his 2011 report on the financial management at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), where several areas have raised red flags for the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Government MPs query the financial situation of GECOM

Acting Chief Elections Officer (CEO), Calvin Benn, and other GECOM officials, yesterday, appeared before the committee which is chaired by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Shadow Finance Minister, Carl Greenidge.
Greenidge, along with Government’s Chief Whip, Gail Teixeira and outspoken committee member, Bibi Shaddick, among other members were in agreement as they questioned several areas of concern, including:
* The loss of some $500,000 from GECOM, which the Commission is asking to be written off;
* The claim for over $10 million in outstanding payments, a debt the Commission is asking the Ministry of Finance to write off;
* The write off of inventory, which was not labelled and as such is presenting a challenge for the Ministry of Finance in acquiescing to the request for a write off;
* Missing vouchers valued at $2.32 million; and
* The theft of 11 Canon digital cameras.
Greenidge called on Benn to present hard evidence to support his claims, many of which were contrary to Sharma’s report.
CONFLICTING REPORTS

Nirmal Rekha, Finance Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, right, and Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, left, with another senior Ministry of Finance staffer during yesterday’s PAC meeting

Citing the Auditor General’s report, Shaddick noted that an advance of $500,000 was claimed by Benn in June 2006, who was then acting CEO, and three months after the monies were reportedly lost in a fire in September 2006.
Benn returned that the monies were to cover unforeseen expenses as it related to the August 2006 national elections.
According to him, he is in possession of $65,000 in vouchers, leaving $435,000 to be clear.
Benn said he was told by senior GECOM officials that the advance cannot be cleared in part when the $65,000 in vouchers were presented.
The Auditor General debunked this, as did the Finance Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Nirmal Rekha, who stressed that the vouchers could have been cleared in part.
He maintained that the monies of taxpayers have to be accounted for in a proper manner.
Benn further explained that the monies were kept in a safe and after the fire; officials were unable to access the GECOM compound.
He said when GECOM officials finally entered the compound, two or three days later, the “safe” was found to have been broken into and the monies lost.
Shaddick argued that the Auditor General’s report indicated that the monies were kept in a drawer, not a safe.
Committee Member, Manzoor Nadir, also questioned why the advance was taken to cover elections related expenditure three months before the fact.
Benn claimed that the money was not taken three months in advance; rather it was taken three days before.
Shaddick quoted information that informed the Auditor General’s report and stressed that the given date was June, three months in advance.
“What you are saying is at complete odds with what the Auditor General’s report has said,” she charged.
Shaddick called on the Acting CEO to not “disrespect” the members of the PAC and relay comments that are “far removed” from the truth.
The Acting CEO maintained that his comments are not intended to mislead and stated that the claims in the Auditor General report are “far from the truth, false and inaccurate” as it relates to the time the advance was taken and how it was kept.
The PAC Chair intervened to query the clearly conflicting reports of Benn and the Auditor General.
He questioned whether consultations were not had between the two officials to clear any misconceptions.
Greenidge expressed concern that Benn saw a report that impugned his integrity, yet he made no move to respond.
Benn responded that during the consultations on the 2012 Auditor General’s report, he raised the issues and submitted accompanying documents to substantiate his claims.
Sharma acknowledged that this was done, but made it clear that he is standing by the 2011 report on the matter.
Greenidge requested that Benn submit the documents and other necessary accompanying reports to the Committee by the end of the week, so the PAC can seek to resolve the issue, which Benn committed to have done.
Teixeira pointed out that the problem of insufficient documentation is one that was raised with the former CEO, Goocool Boodhoo.
She added that the continued disregard for this warning is unacceptable.
According to her, there must be greater effort to address this concern.
The Committee Member noted too that Benn’s report to the Committee widely quoted decisions made by the Commission, with no supporting documentation, such as the relevant sections of the minutes of the meeting where the particular issue was addressed.
Greenidge said it is not the Committee’s task to become “judge” but he agreed with Teixeira’s call for documentation.
He said the absence of documentation leaves “question marks” over the head of senior officials and GECOM’s processes.
SWEEPING LEGAL STATEMENT
The claim for over $10 million in outstanding payments, a debt the Commission is asking the Commission to write off was another major point of the Committee’s questioning.
Shaddick quoted Benn’s report as saying that the “Commission at its 379th and 380th statutory meetings has ruled that this matter is legally dead and no legal action can be taken against ACME (the debtor)….GECOM is now statute barred from pursuing any action to recover monies owed since the time for bringing a cause of action has lapsed.”
She questioned on whose legal advice this decision was made.
Benn said the Commission’s legal officer, Wanita Barker, advised that the Commission has exhausted all legal avenues, hence the request for a write off of the debt.
Shaddick noted that she is unsure that such “sweeping legal statements” can be made by the Commission, as it relates to recovering monies owed.
Benn responded that in addition to Barker, the Commission sometime seeks outside sources of information, including that of prominent local lawyer, Ashton Chase.
Shaddick raised the issue of documentation again and stressed that the Committee needs to be aware of who made the decision.
Benn committed to providing the minutes of the meeting where the decision was made.
Committee Member and APNU Member of Parliament, Keith Scott, pointed out that the debt was incurred in 2006 and up to 2010, the statute of limitations, which is usually 10 years, was not yet passed.
Greenidge urged the Acting CEO that he has a responsibility and cannot be absolved of those on the basis of legal advice.
He added that the Guyana Elections Commission, like other statutory bodies, fall under the rule of law and its process are as such subjected.
The PAC Chair called on Benn to provide a report reconciling the numbers of the debt and have the report forwarded to the Committee before the end of the week.
QUESTIONABLE PROCESS
The concerns over the Commission’s questionable processes were pursued by Rekha who noted that there has been no marking of any inventory in the Commission’s possession and as such writing off equipment labelled as ‘obsolete’ is difficult.
Benn stated that GECOM has begun rectifying this problem.
According to his report, the installation of an inventory software package is complete and approximately 40 per cent of stock items have been recorded.
He noted, however, that the process was hampered because of the turnover of staff, but is expected to be completed by June this year.
As it relates to the issue with missing voucher, Benn said GECOM has instituted a system of monthly reconciliations to reduce the risk of missing vouchers.
On the issue of the theft of 11 Canon digital cameras, the Acting CEO said the Commission wrote a follow up letter on August 22, 2013 to the police on the matter.
With references to these responses, the charge to have supporting documentation to be able to properly account to the PAC was repeated by several Committee Members.
The next PAC meeting is tentatively scheduled for next Thursday, February 13.
Written By Vanessa Narine

source: guyanachronicle