–following revelation of missing documents that prevent reconciliation effort

MEMBERS of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Finance Secretary, on Monday requested a forensic audit into the unaccounted for $269 million worth of drugs in Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) under the A Partnership For National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC).

This request was made during the 65th meeting of the committee as it examined the findings of the Auditor General’s report of 2019 for Region Three.
During this examination of the report, it was stated that an amount of $429.7 million was budgeted for the procurement of drugs and medical supplies, and included in that amount was a sum of $299.356 million that was transferred by way of an inter-departmental warrant to the Ministry of Public Health to procure drugs and medical supplies on behalf of the region.
Against this backdrop, government member of the committee, Dr Vishwa Mahadeo, said, “It says here that the head of budget agency explained that the region wrote the MoPH requesting the listing of drugs sent to the region, along with the cost so that a reconciliation can be done. Was that done?”

The Regional Executive Officer (REO), in response, said that several efforts were made for this reconciliation to be done and while the Ministry of Health was engaged on no less than three occasions, this was not done, as a result of absent documentation.
Mahadeo further highlighted that the report notes that a similar situation occurred in 2018 as well.

Mahadeo questioned, “So we don’t know whether the $299.3 million that was supposedly spent in the region, whether that amount of drugs and medical supplies were received by the region?”
The REO said that a costing was provided as reflected in the audit report; however, the Combined Issued and Received Vouchers (CRIVs) could not have been located.
When asked whether the copies of the CRIVs that are supposed to be held in the region were there, the REO said: “Totally absent, we have made dedicated efforts to check on that, none was received. Further, through our Finance Secretary, we have sought the input from the MMU (Materials Management Unit); unfortunately, only a few was [sic] received from the MMU.”

Meanwhile, the Regional Health Officer, Dr Erica Forte said that when in contact with the MMU only CRIVs amounting to some $30.9 million were found when the reconciliation was done.
“So, $269 million could not be accounted for, not by the region, not by the MMU, it cannot be accounted for?” Dr Mahadeo questioned.
Further, Finance Secretary, Sukrishnalall Pasha making his contribution to the meetings, confirmed that the information provided by the RHO is correct.
Pasha said: “The information provided by the RHO is correct based on what I was told two weeks ago. So, the struggle that we have right now, the source document to do the reconciliation they’re not available and in the absence of source documents, I would humbly request that a forensic audit be done… without the relevant document [you cannot] perform any reconciliation.”

This suggestion, he indicated, is one that he informed the regional administration he would make to the PAC, as he reiterated to the chair of the committee that without the source document, it is impossible to do the reconciliation.
However, following questions about other means to be able to find this information and account for the sum, Minister of Public Works and government member of the committee, Juan Edghill also called for this forensic audit to be conducted to have this issue resolved.
The committee further laid the suggestion over to the Auditor General’s office for their consideration.