–Gold Board Chairman

INSTANCES of financial irregularities have been discovered at the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) and has resulted in two members of staff with decades of experience being sent home pending the outcome of investigations, GGB Chairman Gabriel Lall told reporters on Friday.

Lall’s statement comes one day after the media reported that the GGB’s accountant and clerk have been sent home for fraudulent activities.
But notwithstanding discovery of the financial irregularities, Lall assured that clients’ assays are intact and its operations have not been compromised.

“We had to send home two workers and we have an investigation ongoing where some financial irregularities have surfaced. Without going into any detail, let me say the documentation is thorough, the evidence is persuasive and comprehensive; that is about as much as I can say,” said the GGB chairman.

He said too that the investigation is ongoing and noted that it would be unfair for the GGB to make its own conclusions “even though we have our arms around it to a very satisfactory extent”.

The two persons sent on leave have been identified as an accountant and a clerk; Lall, who was accompanied by the acting general manager of the GGB, Eondrene Thompson and Attorney Stacy Weaver, disclosed that the duo has so far “agreed with what they have heard; what was presented to them”.

The duo was identified because on every false document their names and signatures were attached. “They identified it, they were shown it and they admitted that it was their signature.”

The GGB chair said too that miners are involved in every process when they take their gold to be purchased at the Gold Board. In fact, he disclosed that miners (clients) are provided with a document which they take for their payment to be processed while emphasising that the “opportunity to shave off is simply non-existent”.

“We want to send the reassurance out there that up to date, despite our numerous discoveries, no miner’s assay is compromised,” said Lall, who did not disclose the amount of money tied up in the illegal activities.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS
“Let’s limit our conversations to millions of Guyana dollars,” he said quickly, noting that the duo did not benefit from millions weekly.
Meanwhile, Thompson like Lall sought to assure that gold is not being shaved as miners are able to follow their transactions every step of the way.

“There is no way we would have that happening in the system.”
She disclosed that when the discovery was made, the Gold Board decided that the staff should be sent home so that the evidence is not compromised.

“What we saw… were major inconsistencies or irregularities,” she said, noting that additional information could not be disclosed, given the nature of the investigation.
Asked what sparked the investigation, Thompson said, a situation where a client’s assays, in the name of the said client, who usually has a high percentage, results came back showing a low percentage.

“When that result came back, it came back lower than is usual. It is contrary to his profile, so we decided to investigate it. It turned out, it probably could have been a switch with that client’s assay and that was rectified. However, we decided to comb the system where we unearthed a number of inconsistencies,” she stated.

A client who has a very low volume of sale does not require assay. So if a client only sells four ounces of gold, that client would not require an assay but a client with large amounts, from 10 ounces up have to have assays. That assay is tested for purity and must be over 94 per cent.

INTACT
In combing the system, Thompson said the GGB went as far back as January 1, 2017 and over the last two months unearthed the inconsistencies. She was quick to point out however, that all of the board’s clients’ assays are intact.

“It was what we would call, falsification of documents,” the acting general manager said, while explaining that it was observed that the accused used the exact results, payout factor but did not allocate same to the right client.
“They would go to a client who sold a very small quantity that did not give rise to an assay. They used someone else’s name with a small client’s voucher advice,” she added.

“That small client that did not require an assay sample… the payment advice number was taken from that and placed on a fabricated assay certificate and a large client’s name would be used and the percentage pay out,” she continued, noting that nobody’s assay was tampered with.

Meanwhile, Thompson explained that the GGB uses the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM) which refines its gold to do assay testing. She noted that some clients consider the results of the RCM more accurate than the local testing facility at the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).

“In addition to that, when the GGB is not satisfied with a specific result, especially when a client brings a large volume of gold and it is a high percentage; we always take the better route to go to RCM for testing.

“When the results come back, in most cases, or I should say in all cases we accept it because the client feels satisfied and we compare it also with the results we get from GGMC as against what we have paid out,” the acting general manager stated, contending that the RCM assay testing “is a better rule of thumb”.
In addition, it was noted that the RCM provides certification and the GGB provides clients with payout certificates.

TIMELY
However, the process to have RCM test the assays is somewhat timely as the GGB said it mostly ships assays once monthly.
“If we have large volumes, we ship twice a month; that’s the maximum we have ever shipped,” noted Thompson who explained that when the RCM results return, whatever is owed to the GGB is paid over and whatever GGB owes is paid to the client.

“When the results return they still have to be analyses and that analysis is done at the GGMC laboratory and not the accounts department of the GGB. It is then sent to the general manager, then to the finance manager after which it goes to the accounts department for them to process.”

“Therefore, we are matching clients with results,” she stated, while disclosing that there are over 200 clients within the GGB’s database.
RCM has since been informed out of courtesy that there have been developments within the GGB which point to financial irregularities. Great care was taken to ensure the RCM understands that the matter is not one of anti-money laundering or source of gold but an internal matter.

Meanwhile, Lall said measures have been implemented for the tightening of the system at the GGB but noted that the problems are imbedding at the entity.

“You have just got me a little angry here… not with you, but with what I inherited here. We paid tens of millions of dollars for a system and what was delivered was half of a system. And when I raised my voice at somebody they reported to the minister that I threatened them,” Lall told a reporter in response to questions on the system.

“We have a half of a system, where the people in the trenches know that this is how it operates and they try to work their way around it. That’s all I’ll say right now,” he added while noting that the system in place is supposed to have certain layers of security performs the checks and balances.

Asked whether staff have resisted the system, Lall said, the staff of the accounts department are aware of the limitations within the system.
The police have not yet been called in, but deliberations are ongoing as to the way forward with the investigations.