–says it was ‘unnecessary’, ‘highly-publicised’

THE Board of Directors of the Guyana Energy Agency (GEA) on Friday expressed much concern about the manner in which the Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) conducted what it described to be a “highly publicised search warrant” on Thursday at its office.
Despite dubbing the action of SOCU as unnecessary, given the GEA’s cooperation, the entity stressed that it respects the mandate and functions of SOCU, and will continue to cooperate with the unit during its investigation.
“The board further notes for the record, and in the interest of transparency, that at no time was the GEA reluctant, unavailable, or uncooperative in the submission and handover of the requested documents.”

GEA’s board, in a statement to the media, said: “On receipt of a letter dated October 4, 2017 from SOCU to the GEA which requested a list of information, the GEA provided all required documentation within a two-week period, save and except for documents and vouchers in excess of two thousand files for which the GEA, in its response, noted the potential impracticality due to its sheer volume and invited the Investigating Team to visit the GEA office at its convenience to review the files in totality.”
The entity noted that in recognising the voluminous nature of the files, a letter dated October 19 was penned to SOCU, indicating that “the documents requested are quite voluminous, and are the financial records of the Agency, which must be kept for the purposes of audit. Full access to these documents at the GEA’s headquarters will be granted to the investigating team who can be accommodated in the Agency’s boardroom as was done during the course of the forensic audit.”

The Board of Directors said it is in communication with SOCU’s head, Sydney James, to enquire about the challenges faced in obtaining the requested information, and whether the information provided was sufficient.
“The Board of Directors wishes to advise that files have been provided, and once again reaffirms the cooperation of the GEA in any and all ongoing investigations,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, a forensic audit was conducted last year into the operations of the GEA, and the auditor recommended that strong disciplinary action be taken against the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Mahender Sharma for alleged lax oversight of the fuel-marking system and ensuing fuel-smuggling and his role in unlegislated and unauthorised polygraph testing of GEA employees from the Fuel Marking Services Division that resulted in the services of over 30 employees being terminated.

In the Audit Report, it was noted that there were several deficiencies in the Fuel Marking Division and those deficiencies are as a result of “a weak internal control system.” It was noted that there are three persons responsible for the ordering, storing, dispensing and reconciling fuel-marking concentrates.

Revenue generated from fuel-marking services have averaged GY$335,853,784 per year for the periods 2011 to 2014, but there is a lack of proper validation of fuel marking reports, prepared and issued by terminal staff of oil companies to the Marking Services Division (MSD) of the GEA for bulk fuel marked.
The fuel-marking reports are used to determine the quantity of fuel marked, so that fees can be calculated. Based on investigations by the auditor, it was discovered that the reports were “not independently validated by the MSD staff or by any officer of the vessel that delivered the fuel to the terminal.

“Prior to 2015 there is no documentation that Fuel Marking Services Division requested the Association of Trawlers and Seafood Operators, to provide approved Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Custom forms, before duty-free markers are dispensed from GEA stores to mark the fuel.”
The audit was done for the period November 1, 2011 to May 31, 2015.