Dear Editor,
When George Bernard Shaw said “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place” he could well have been referring to the imbroglio we know as the Exxon Audit; it is a story of a communication failure involving four persons in positions of authority. An examination of the public statements of Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, GRA Commissioner General Godfrey Statia, and the actions of Minister of Natural Resources Vickram Bharrat and his head of the Petroleum Unit Gopnauth Gossai are instructive and can be used as a primer on why inter-agency communication is vital for transparency, accountability and good management in Government.
Jagdeo has been consistent, in June of 2018, Jagdeo (In Opposition) had questioned why auditing of the pre-contract expenses had not begun given that ExxonMobil would not refuse to have its books checked. “What surprises me is that ExxonMobil says that we are open to the audit… but it is still not done”. He also said that should his party return to government “It has to be done and we will do it”. Jagdeo continued to publicly assert at his weekly press conferences that GRA was in control without the interference of the politicians, meanwhile, Jagdeo was meeting with Minister Bharrat and his petroleum unit who were delivering ever-lowering numbers of contested sums, the Unit was in constant contact with Exxon who were justifying expenses in the forms of bills, contracts, invoices, etc. Jagdeo passed these figures on publicly and directed those who wanted detailed information on how the reductions were being arrived at to the GRA. Stabroek News took the advice and was told that GRA did not know of any reduction of the USD 214M identified as unaccounted for by IHS Markit.
In December 2020, GRA Commissioner-General Godfrey Statia told Stabroek News “We have actually completed our part (of ExxonMobil’s pre-contract audit) and have given it to the Department of Energy to give to Exxon. When you are finished with an audit, you have to give the other party a chance to respond. That is normal. You have to inform the party of your findings, if not you have not completed the audit so that is where I know we last were,” further, on April 6th, 2023, Statia issued a statement saying “As of now, an active review of the final report is still continuing between them and the Ministry of Natural Resources. GRA will release its findings when that review is completed” (Guyana Times 6.4.23). In July of 2023, GRA wrote to Minister Bharrat and indicated that they had closed the audit as they had received no information/data to decide on the reduction.
Minister Bharrat continued to receive reports from Gossai and the Petroleum Unit and sit in briefings with Jagdeo until Stabroek News broke the news that GRA was not on the same page with the reductions announced. Bharrat then released a statement saying “As recent as July 2023 Mr. Gossai in a meeting with Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo and I, reported that the initial sum was reduced to USD$11,497,140 then further down to US$3,414,853.68. Given that I had written the GRA since November 2022 and it was established that the GRA’s involvement is necessary to finalize the audit, I was under the impression that the reduced figure was done in collaboration with the GRA.” … “Therefore, after examining all the facts it is clear that Mr. Gossai acted without the requisite authorization to engage EEPGL and provided inadequate advice and as such, I have asked the Permanent Secretary to take the necessary disciplinary measures.”
Minister Bharrat’s idea of clarity eludes, for unless Gossai was instructed to cease contact and work on the audit, then he (Gossai) was proceeding under the assumption of doing his job under the legitimate umbrella of the Ministry of Natural Resources. It is clear, that Bharrat Jagdeo, Godfrey Statia, and, Vickram Bharrat knew that there was an ongoing engagement with Gossai’s Unit and ExxonMobil.
Here is where the lines of communication and assumptions became tangled; as ExxonMobil delivered documentation to the Unit, it was never forwarded to GRA. Min. Bharrat was in communication with his Unit and GRA but never discerned the very obvious differences in what the parties were telling him. Jagdeo was being briefed by the Ministry/Unit and was under the impression that GRA was involved; in his effort to remain transparent, Jagdeo never contacted GRA for fear of being accused of interference in the audit in direct contravention of his oft-stated public position. It is also clear that neither GRA nor the Petroleum Unit was listening to Jagdeo’s press conferences nor following the public debate in the newspapers; GRA made no effort to find out who was responsible for the lowering of the audit amount (a GRA responsibility) and the Unit seemed oblivious to their role as technical advisers and operated as auditors. The linchpin in all of this is Minister Bharrat and he failed, the wheel fell off the wagon entirely due to his failure to communicate.
Editor, various civil society commentators have imputed nefarious intent on the part of those involved and Gossai has been labeled a ‘scapegoat’ taking the fall for corrupt actors/actions. All of this is speculation and can/will be cleared up if ExxonMobil requests arbitration of the disputed audit amount (if they don’t that would be instructive). The presentation of documentation (bills, invoices, etc) to the arbitration panel will see one of three possible results; no reduction, reduction to USD 3M, or reduction to some other amount; at that time we can make pronouncements on the competence of the Petroleum Unit and impute motives at will, complete vindication may be on the cards but there will still be the issue of inter-agency communication to solve.
Sincerely,
Robin Singh