audit findings reveal
THE questionable operations of the Guyana Gold Board under the former A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government were brought into the spotlight by financial analyst, Joel Bhagwandin, following a review of recent audit findings.

Damning revelations unveiled the practices of Gold Board during the period 2017-2019, under the chairmanship of GHK Lall.
Bhagwandin, in a letter to the editor, brought to light evidence revealing the blatant mismanagement under Lall’s tenure.

It was unearthed that during 2018, the Guyana Gold Board approved nine dealers’ licence to conduct gold trading activities without following the essential and correct procedures.
Auditors detected that there were no documented standard operating procedures offering guidance for approval and issuing of dealers’ licences.
Additionally, there was no documented evidence of interviews being conducted by the Board of Directors prior to issuance of licences in 2018.
“Moreover, in 2019, no objection was sought from the Minister of Natural Resources as required, except in one of the nine dealers’ files, evidence of no objection was on file,” Bhagwandin said.

He further related that board was plagued with financial irregularities and mismanagement of the organisation’s financial resources during that period.