–former GM gave misleading statements to obtain money from PetroCaribe Fund

FALSE and misleading statements by Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) from the former General Manager (GM) to the Governments of Guyana and Venezuela in order to obtain monies for the lucrative PetroCaribe Fund were among the glaring financial irregularities highlighted by Nigel Hinds Financial Services in its forensic audit of the Rice Development Board.

And the “alacrity” with which the report was handed over to Police Commissioner, Seelall Persaud by Junior Minister of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma on Wednesday is an indication “that we should expect fast movement”, Natural Resources Minister Raphael Trotman said.
He made the comments when he addressed the media at a post-Cabinet briefing on Thursday at the Ministry of the Presidency, Shiv Chanderpaul Drive, Geogetown.
Trotman said the audit report indicated that via to the PetroCaribe Fund, the financial vehicle which saw millions of dollars passing through the accounting unit of the GRDB, there were “glaring” financial irregularities which were uncovered by the auditors with “no traceable signs that these were ever approved”, minus promissory notes in some instances.
The audit was conducted for the period 2011-2015.
“I believe if at the level of the Police Force, that there is the belief that charges to be laid, then at that stage something is expected,” Trotman said.
He said some of the persons mentioned in the report had resigned when the Government changed in 2015, and as such, the issue of persons being sent on leave may not arise.
One such person is former GRDB General Manager, Jagnarine Singh.
In the report, which was seen by this publication, the auditors said that Singh often provided “misleading and false statements” when reporting to the Government of Guyana and the Government of Venezuela to obtain payments from the PetroCaribe Fund.
A whopping US$553M were disbursed from the fund as an offset to the rice and paddy exports to Venezuela, the report said.

PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT
According to the report , Saj Rice Inc, one of the largest millers in the country based on transactions with the GRDB, received “preferential treatment” by being allowed to direct the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) on how payments in US dollars from the GRDB’s accounts “must be” allocated for rice/paddy shipped by that rice milling firm.
Of note, the auditor pointed out in the report that the GBTI holds the largest US dollar bank account of the GRDB, while at the same time CEO of that bank was a member of the rice development board between the years 2011-2015.
The auditor went on to state that the CEO of Saj Rice, Carlos Colombia, accompanied Singh on “multiple occasions” to Venezuela and the businessman’s costs for such trips were paid for by the GRDB.
In addition, the Rice Development Board also footed the bills for Mr Colombia’s trips to Venezuela, “with no accompanying GRDB representative”.
On making further checks of the records , the auditors discovered that during the period May 2011 to May 2015 , the monetary values attributed directly to the Saj CEO trips to Venezuela amounted to “per diem” payments in excess of G$5.2M while airfares for his trips were found to be G$2.8m in costs.
Further checks of the financial records of the GRDB indicated that there are no existing board minutes of the Procurement and Tender Board Sub-Committee (PTBSC) meetings between 2011 and 2012. This is despite many tenders and evaluation documents resulted in procurement during that time.
“This confirms that the GM, Jagnarine Singh and DGM, Madanlall Ramraj, processed procurement documents that bypassed the PTBSC process,” the auditor reported, noting that the move ultimately undermined the governance structure and opened the procurement process to “potential fraud”.
According to the report, the numerous improprieties discovered during the audit resulted from the abject failure of the Board of Directors to recognise and effectively address the “abuses” by senior executives of the GRDB, namely Singh and his deputy and other managers.
The report stated that during the period 2010 -2015, the board of the GRDB comprised of Chairman, Nigel Dharamlall (2010-2012); Vice-Chairman, Dharamkumar Seeraj (2010-2015); Leekha Rambrich, Mohammed Sattaur, Bobby Gossai Jnr, John Tracy, Badrie Persaud, Dindyal Permaul and Sase Gunraj, among others .