THE government is unfazed by Leader of the Opposition Aubrey Norton’s recent letter to Auditor General, Deodat Sharma demanding a probe into the funds used for a number of public sector projects, including the various cash grants.

This is according to Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC, who during his weekly programme, Issues in the News, said he is unsure of Norton’s goals in requesting that an inquiry of this kind be conducted.

He insisted that the PPP government spends taxpayers’ monies in an accountable and transparent manner.

In addition to the cash grants, Norton has asked for an examination of the Men on Mission programme spearheaded by President Dr. Irfaan Ali under the Office of the President; the Regional Economic Transformation Project carried out by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development; and the Community Infrastructure Improvement Project. An audit is also being requested into the criteria for awarding grants under the Sustainable Livelihood Entrepreneurial Development (SLED); the Small Business Development Fund under the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce; the Government Buildings under the Ministry of Public Works and the National Pathway Workers Initiative, among other projects.

Nandlall asserted that the Auditor General’s tasks are spelt out in detail in both the Guyana Constitution and the Auditor General Act, and that they have been fulfilled for many years.

The Auditor General’s primary responsibility is to audit the financial records of all public entities, including ministries and other governmental bodies, to make sure that all funds are being used appropriately and for the intended purposes.

In light of this, Nandlall recalled that from 1980 to 1992, when the PNC governed, there was no auditing of public accounts by the Auditor General.

The Auditor General “cannot just probe something upon Norton’s request,” Nandlall declared.

PAPER TRAIL

The Opposition Leader claimed that a number of people have voiced concerns regarding the lack of a paper trail and the discriminatory way in which cash grants are distributed.

However, Nandlall clarified: “And the cash grants they are talking about, I participated every year in the school cash grant: The Because We Care Cash Grant. I know for a fact that the Auditor General or his staff plays a part in the planning and the distribution of those cash grants.”

He continued: “That list of grantees is papered by the Ministry of Education staff and is extracted from the register in each school. There is a paper trail which is audited by the Auditor General at the end of the process. Every one of you who would have collected that cash grant would know that you didn’t collect extra, neither did you collect short. You collected what you were entitled to and you signed. There is a paper trail…”

Nandlall stated that Norton ought to request that the Auditor General conduct an audit of several ‘shady’ projects carried out by the former APNU+AFC coalition government led by David Granger. These projects included the D’Urban Park Project, the $160 million that was paid to a French company for the feasibility study for a new bridge over the Demerara River, and the $72.4 million that was paid for three Mettler Toledo Weight-in-Motion Scales that were never delivered to the former government.

“He [should] probe the monies that are missing from D’Urban Park; 650 million Guyana dollars is still missing from D’Urban Park. Let him probe that. The Auditor General has said so. And that project was executed by a company that they incorporated at the Office of the President, comprising of people like Larry London and other employees in the Office of the President itself. Let him probe the $160M that Minister [David] Patterson paid out to a handpicked company to do a feasibility study for the Demerara River Bridge which nobody has never seen.”

“A company from France. He just picked the company just liked that. No procurement process in accordance with the law not even a Cabinet decision. Let him probe the scales that Patterson bought and paid 100 per cent of the purchase price and never received the scales. The contract said that he must pay a percentage as a deposit and await the delivery of the scales. He advanced the full purchase price and we never got the scales,” Nandlall continued.

Patterson was the APNU+AFC government’s Minister of Public Infrastructure at the time.

It was discovered in 2020 that London, an APNU+AFC supporter, served as the President and Secretary of a Florida-registered company that received payment to print birth certificates.

Between 2019 and 2020, the firm reportedly received orders for around 100,000 birth certificates, for which $23 million was paid.

In 2021, the government filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against a Jamaican company, Patterson and others, concerning the purchase of scales.

The contract for the purchase is dated December 6, 2016, and according to Nandlall, “the bond that the scales were stored in erupted in flames two years ago or a year ago.”

Nandlall emphasised that under the PPP government, there is a “vibrant and functioning” Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by the Opposition that scrutinises the Auditor General’s findings. He added that the Auditor General conducts annual audits of public accounts.

The Attorney General pointed out that the Constitution specifies this accountability structure.