Private accounts discovered in gov’t agencies; criminal proceedings likely
By Fareeza Haniff
[www.inewsguyana.com] – The new APNU+AFC government, in just less than a month in office, discovered private bank accounts in several State agencies and were being controlled by “certain persons,” according to Minister of State, Joseph Harmon.
While refusing to name the agencies due to an ongoing investigation, the Minister made it clear that criminal proceedings are likely to follow once it is found that there were illegal transactions.
“Once we find criminal transactions, there will be criminal proceedings; there is no bone about that,” the Minister told a news conference on Thursday, June 11 at the Ministry of Presidency.
iNews had reported that cabinet approved audits for over 30 State entities, and that the new Minister of Finance is ensuring that monies assigned to the Consolidated Funds are indeed going there.
Audits have already commenced at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), the Guyana Gold Board (GCB) and National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL).
The new government also discovered that there are bank accounts which were held at Bank of Guyana; the monies are now being paid into the Consolidated Fund.
“I am of the view that from my own understanding of how things were done, that we can be in a much better place in another month or so once we get a handle of all these transactions which were not finding themselves into the consolidated fund,” the Minister of State said.
Meanwhile, according to Harmon, the Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan has established an advisory team to assess the state of the country’s economy. The Minister explained that it is exactly one month now since elections and the new government is still trying to bring the country to a level of “regularity.”
“It is exactly one month since elections and a lot of things have happened between then and now; we’re asking for some level of patience and understanding. We’re trying to correct some of the things that have gone wrong in 23 years; we’re trying to correct it in 23 days,” Harmon said.