A REPORT of the forensic audit of the Guyana Office for Investment (Go-Invest) has recommended that the entity be housed in a building that facilitates smooth work flow, filing and structured departments.In addition, the system of maintaining files at the Go-Invest office was said to be in a “in an inexcusable state”.

According to the report, compiled by Nigel Hinds Financial Services and submitted on September 30, 2016 to Minister within the Ministry of Finance, Jaipaul Sharma, the improper maintenance of files contributes greatly to the inability of management of Go-Invest to provide timely and accurate information regarding its operations.

The report said that on many occasions documents placed in an investor’s file were not bound and this resulted in documents being dismissed. Moreover, many of the files examined were not properly indexed and as such there was no way of knowing what should actually be in the file. The auditors noted too that the movement of files was not always documented; hence it proved difficult to locate files in a timely manner.

At the time the report was being compiled, it was observed that the files for Chinese investor, Zhonghao Shipyards Inc. and cable company Atlantic Network Inc. could not be found by officers of Go-Invest.

The report also pointed to the building which houses the Go-Invest operations at the corner of Camp and Church Streets in the city as not being adequately suited for its operations.

According to the auditor, there is need for the entity to be housed in a building which caters for functional departments and which is designed to accommodate staff members, with particular emphasis on office space for Investment Officers.

“There is need to prioritise the upgrade of the working environment, with the ambience and ergonomics that are investor friendly”, the report stated.

The auditor recommended that management of Go-Invest should ensure that the entity’s staff is adequately trained in the interpretation and application of the relevant legislation, especially the Investment Act 2004 and the Income tax (In Aid of Industry) Act 1994.

Once trained, the auditors believe the staff would be in a better position to provide reliable advice to investors, a grey area which was uncovered during the audit.

In June 2015 , Minister of Business , Dominic Gaskin, under whose portfolio the investment agency falls , told Guyana Chronicle that Go-Invest was set to undergo major reform, with strong attention being placed on fairness, transparency, good governance and aggressive promotion of the agency, both locally and abroad.

Go-Invest, he said, was not adequately resourced to achieve what it was designed to achieve, and as minister he would pay strong attention to performance and not to anecdotal information, but hard, reliable data.