The United States authorities should investigate ExxonMobil’s unauthorised discussions with Ministry of Natural Resources staff that led to a reduction in a disputed oil audit figure from US$214m to US$3m, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran says.
Questioning the role of the company that is still to address the core issue of how it began the negotiations with unauthorized personnel, Goolsarran said that as a global company ExxonMobil must be patently aware of the processes of an audit, and that it could not re-enter negotiations after the audit is closed.
“And what of Exxon’s engagement with the staff of the Ministry in what the Minister considered unauthorized reduction of the disputed costs? The US oil giant ought to have been aware that the auditors’ report on the disputed costs is final, and that the matter ought not to have been re-opened,” he said, as he again discussed the issue in his accountability column in the Stabroek News.