THE regional administration of Region One (Barima-Waini), under the former coalition administration, did not maintain a register on fuel inventory for 2017, and several accounting discrepancies, including the receipt of more fuel than the region had capacity to store, has raised grave questions of accounting breaches at the regional administration.

This and other issues came to light on Monday, when meetings of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) resumed with the examination of issues raised about Region One’s accounting procedures in the 2017 and 2018 Audit Reports.

According to findings, the region also did not maintain a register for the fuel receipts and issuance, however, in total, there are more cases of fuel being issued than there were instances of input of fuel, leaving several questions of what exactly took place in 2017 with the fuel in the region.

According to the 2017 Audit Report, while 817 drums (36,767 gallons) of fuel were received by the regional administration from various suppliers, amounts totaling 1,009 drums (45,420 gallons) were reflected as being issued. As a result, the records indicated an excess of 192 drums (8,653 gallons) of gasoline being issued more than was paid for.

Moreover, while fuel was stored in one bond that had a maximum capacity of 50 drums of gasoline (2,250 gallons) and 10 drums of dieseline (450 gallons) at any given time, evidence was seen where fuel was purchased in quantities beyond the storage capacity of the bond.

Further, in Region One, during 2017, some $139.954 million was expended on fuel and lubricants; however, there was no reconciliation of the quantity of fuel received from the supplier with the total amounts paid in 2017.

“As a result, it could not be determined whether the regional administration was in receipt of the full amount of fuel purchased,” the report noted.

A physical audit inspection carried out by the Audit Office on July 11, 2018, during the process of receiving fuel from a supplier and off-loading same via a pump into the tanks within the bond, found that during the process, there was no supervisory personnel present to witness this activity.

During Monday’s examination of the discrepancies, it was revealed that though the discrepancies occurred in 2017, proper accounting procedures were in place and functioning in the years both before and after 2017.

Regional Executive Officer of Region One, Tikaram Bisesar, and Regional Engineer, Raul Boyer, came under fire from members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as these issues. Bissessar acknowledged that the fuel supervisory responsibility fell under his portfolio.

However, Bissessar, who was the Deputy REO in 2017 operating under then REO Leslie Wilburg, highlighted his lack of ability to supervise the fuel inventory due to being allegedly prohibited by Wilburg from executing his work in several instances during the 2017.

Bissessar, however, admitted that he did not have the evidence to prove how he was prevented from doing his work.

He was reminded by members of the PAC that as a public servant there are means through which he could address issues once he is restricted from carrying out of his duties.
“I could not go to the stores to perform my function. Those duties were not given to me,” Bissessar said.

However, members of the PAC were not settling for that excuse.

“I cannot accept that. In your capacity as REO you have a job description that comes to the portfolio. You have avenues to seek redress if you are hampered in doing your duty,” commented PAC Member Ganesh Mahipaul.

PAC Member Edghill further noted: “Give us the circumstances and conditions that obtained in the region that showed that you were unable to perform your functions. I don’t know how we can’t logically exonerate you from this if you can’t show us the evidence.”

Audit Manager, Fiona Kingston, said that since the occurrence of this accounting breach, it has since been rectified with the restoration of proper accounting procedures.

“Presently, fuel has been purchased to the capacity of the tanks, reconciliation is being done and the internal controls are more effective than they were during this period [in 2017],” she said.