After receiving emergency funds to pay off a debt to the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL), the Government Information Agency (GINA) used some of the money to replenish its accounts after paying bonuses to its staff in 2015, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told on Monday.
After inquiries were made by PAC member Juan Edghill about how the bonuses were paid in December but the cheques were received in January, GINA’s Director Beverly Alert suggested that perhaps the auditors needed to scrutinize the accounts again.
Alert had related that GINA was asked to pay as much of the debt owed to GNNL as could be afforded by it and so the Office of the Prime Minister was approached for the funds. She said the sum was approved and distributed in two cheques— the first amounting to $1,500,000 and the second amounting to $9,450,000. Alert further stated that on January 8, $15,720,588 was paid over to GNNL.
“Just one second. You are telling PAC, these transactions were not completed in 2015?” Edghill questioned. Alert said that this was so according to the documentation she received, and she could not “go against the documentation”.
When Edghill turned his attention to the Auditor General for an explanation, Deodat Sharma stated that what he believed happened is that GINA paid its staff the bonus and then used the Contin-gency Fund to reimburse its accounts.
“Oh…so the Contingency Fund, 1.5 was used to reimburse an expenditure that GINA incurred to pay their staff. Which is going further into a cesspool because you don’t use the Contingency Fund to reimburse regular expenditure,” Edghill responded.
According to the Auditor General’s 2015 report, an advance of $11 million was requested on December 29, 2015, for payment to GINA to offset partial liabilities to the Guyana National Newspapers Limited (GNNL). An examination of the payment vouchers and supporting documents, however, revealed that GINA paid GNNL $9.450 million, while the remaining $1.550 million was paid to GINA em-ployees as non-taxable bonuses for 2015.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Presidency Abena Moore related that there had been approval for the payment of the bonus, but that the money got “stuck” in the system as of December 31, and the hope was that the money would have been released in time for the issue to be rectified.
“Mr Chair, I can assure you this will not happen again,” she responded to queries from Edghill. She noted that the invoice submitted by GNNL was for debt incurred by GINA up until May, 2015.
Moore admitted that the Contingency Fund monies should only be used for its intended purpose and anything remaining should be refunded.
PAC member Nigel Dharamlall, not content with the explanation or apology offered by the PS, recommended that disciplinary measures be put in place for those responsible. “I don’t think that expending public resources, we can treat it with just a slap on the wrist,” Dharamlall said.
The Audit Office was asked to follow up on the matter.
The PS was questioned on Monday about the procurement practices of the Ministry of the Presidency, specifically as it related to the purchase of a new car for the Prime Minister and emergency CCTV systems, which have still not been received.
Moore later admitted that she had only recently taken up the position, and so had not been around for any of the matters under scrutiny. Moore was preceded by Omar Shariff, who was sent on annual leave from July 1, 2016 by Minister of State Joseph Harmon, following investigations that were launched by SOCU. His services were subsequently terminated.
