Dr. Jagdeo maintains
PEOPLE’S Progressive Party (PPP) General Secretary and Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, pledged his full support for the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA)’s position on the matter of the findings from the cost-oil claims made by ExxonMobil.
The claims were highlighted by British firm IHS Markit in its audit of pre-contract costs.
According to Dr, Jagdeo during a press conference on Thursday at Freedom House: “So, I thought that GRA was dealing with this matter totally…GRA should deal with the issue of audit, they should have a final say at the technical level.”
Addressing how the Ministry of Natural Resources should have stood in unison with GRA’s call to close the audit, Dr. Jagdeo firmly maintained: “I made it clear that I’m accepting the GRA’s position.”
In an invited comment to the Guyana Chronicle, Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, echoed the sentiments of Dr. Jagdeo.
He said that staff of the Petroleum Unit within the ministry decided to act on their account, without his knowledge.
“My position is in sync with the Vice-President and I strongly support the positon that GRA should be dealing with all audits of oil company expenses. Unfortunately, staff from the Petroleum Unit without authorization or without my knowledge entered into discussion with Exxon on the audits which was not supposed to happen in the first place,” he firmly remarked.
He added: “This matter has, however, been rectified/corrected and GRA is the body responsible for auditing.”
In November, 2019, the Government of Guyana entered into a contractual arrangement with IHS Markit (IHSM) for the provision of consultancy services to execute the country’s inaugural Cost Recovery Audit.