Civil society group Article 13 has written to President Irfaan Ali requesting that he authorise the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to disclose particulars of the tax payments made or provided for on behalf of the Stabroek Block partners, ExxonMobil Guyana, CNOOC Petroleum Guyana Limited and Hess Guyana Exploration Limited for the past three years.
“…Your Excellency, we are sure that you will appreciate the significant public interest in this matter – and of course, the completeness and accuracy of the national financial documents. The purpose of this letter therefore is to respectfully request that you authorise the Commissioner General, under the authority given to your Excellency under Section 4 of the Income Tax Act, to provide to us particulars of the payments made or provided for on behalf of the oil companies in the years 2020, 2021 and for 2022 to date,” the organisation wrote in a letter to Ali, dated September 19.
The letter explains to the President that the group understands “that the Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority has issued receipts and certificates under Article 15.4 and 15.5 of the of the 2016 Petroleum Sharing Agreement with the companies but the National Estimates and the financial statements of the Natural Resource Fund do not reflect such payments. “Specifically, paragraph (b) of 15.4 requires that those taxes be paid out of Guyana’s share of profit oil,” the letter notes.
Article 13 is of the opinion that this is in contravention of this country’s laws.
It is for this reason that the group recently also called on Auditor General Deodat Sharma to withdraw his “clean” audit opinion on the financial statements of the Natural Resource Fund (NRF) for the years 2020 and 2021.
The group noted that it was making the call following a review of the financial statements for the Fund for the 2021 fiscal year.
Article 13 said that as part of its review, which was conducted by professional accountants within and outside of Guyana, a determination was sought as to whether the audited financial statements complied with the Natural Resources Fund Act of 2021.
“Article 13 has been advised that the Act has not been complied with to the extent that the taxes paid by the Minister of Natural Resources on behalf of Esso, Hess and CNOOC under the 2016 Petroleum Agreement have not been properly accounted for. Paragraph 4 of Article 15 of the Petroleum Agreement requires that the first appropriate portion of the Government’s share of Profit Oil be applied as payment in full of all taxes paid by the Contractors.
“The financial statements of the NRF for the year 2021, and comparative for 2020, show no withdrawals were made from the Fund for the taxes payable by the oil companies for the year 2020, estimated at more than G$20 billion. It was, therefore, inappropriate and incorrect for the Auditor General to issue a ‘clean’ audit opinion on the financial statements of the Fund for either or both years,” a statement from the group noted last Saturday.
As a result, the group called on the Auditor General to do “the professional thing” and withdraw his opinion of the financial statements citing non-compliance with the law. It said that the opinion can be reissued, noting that it would not be the first time that the Audit Office has withdrawn and reissued an opinion.
Sharma had been asked on Tuesday to respond to the contentions by this newspaper and he had said that he will review documentation against the charges by Article 13 and provide a response.
However, subsequent calls and WhatsApp messages to his number have been unanswered.
Article 13 said it was cognizant that the GRA may assert that it is prevented by the Income Tax Act from communicating the tax information of any person to any other person, except as authorised by the President.
As a result, it said that it will be writing to President Irfaan Ali asking him to authorise GRA to release the particulars of the certificates issued for the various taxes paid by each of the oil companies in 2020, 2021 and 2022. It added that the president can also request the minister responsible for petroleum to release that information in the same detail.
The Natural Resource Fund is unprecedented in its importance to Guyana, and Article 13 said that it views with dismay the cavalier attitude being taken by the PPP/C administration to comply with its own legislation.
