Dear Editor,
The more I ponder and weigh the US$7.3 billion audit of Exxon’s expenses for Liza-1 and Liza-2 by the Ramdihal & Haynes consortium, the more I ask myself if Guyanese have not been the victims of a con job. The team’s findings of US$100 million were certainly a cause for some excitement around here. I was. Considering the dollar amount of findings, and the items flagged for their inapplicability to the Stabroek Block operations, there was crowing, as some Guyanese came to this conclusion about Exxon: gotcha. Gotcha, as in exposed and naked, and gotcha fair and square, notwithstanding the company’s spirited pushbacks. But I am questioning whether the shoe should not be on the other foot, with the gotcha dunce cap firmly planted on Guyana’s head.
All things considered, I think Exxon is the one that is best positioned to say: gotcha. Limited scope and limited time and limited expertise led to limited audit findings, and to a considerable degree more than likely. For the US$100 million in findings stand as a red herring, the kind of distractions that make Guyanese take their eyes off the ball, and lose sight of the Exxon’s version of the Great Guyana train robbery. Was US$100 million the amount given up (the sacrificial lamb), for the probable US$1 billion that eluded detection, if a bona fide audit was undertaken? By bona fide audit, I mean a forensic audit with the right people, the right directions, the right scope, and the right time period. This would be if only to give some assurance of justice being done and delivered by anything calling itself an audit, with the added benefit of some much-needed integrity and clarity for the Guyanese people.
Looking at the expenses submitted by Exxon, I observe a pattern. In the event anyone forgot, it was Chartered Accountant, Lalbachan Ram, who articulated some public disagreement with approximately US$92 million in a bill from Exxon for around US$460 million. Whatever his beliefs, Mr. Ram does have some accounting dharma and the cosmic about him; when others prefer to look sideways, he zeroed in with laser-like intensity on what could not ordinarily hold up to accounting provisions and conventions. Godfrey Statia, Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority, in conjunction with IHS Markit of the United Kingdom, finalized US$214 million in audit findings out of US$1.6 billion submitted for pre-contract costs. Recall the pattern that I mentioned earlier, and there is the bloodying of Guyana’s nose.
From Ram it was close to 20 percent in the questionable, and from the GRA’s Statia and IHS Markit, it was over 13 percent. In the US$214 million in findings, there was a stalwart patriot by the name of Mr. Gopnath “Bobby” Gossai to aid; or so they tell dumb suckers like me. In the US$100 million audit findings, and keeping in mind Exxon’s pattern of over 10 percent and under 20 percent of the amounts submitted as expense schemes for itself, there is this sudden departure from the norm. I have to plunk down the 800-pound gorilla in the middle of the festivities: was there a Bobby Gossai at work in that audit milieu? If so, then who, more people associated with the PPP Government, or those who know what has to be done to succeed with decision makers in this government? And, if the PPP Government and Dr. Jagdeo are serious about looking out for Guyana’s interests, and ascertaining what kind of partner Guyana has in Exxon, then why has there not been ready reception for a forensic audit to check where the Exxon expense trail leads, and how deeply?
Given the submission by Exxon of US$7.3 billion in expenses for Liza-1 and Liza-2 for 2018-2020, and its recent audit history here, I am forced to take these bold positions, as a matter of belief and conviction. The resulting US$100 million audit findings represent only the tip of the iceberg in that US$7.3 billion audit. Second, an expert forensic audit of that US$7.3 billion in expenses is almost guaranteed to turn up multiples more in findings. Third, I would venture that it could be in the vicinity of US$1 billion, given that over 10 percent and under 20 percent pattern practiced by Exxon. Fourth, the Guyana Government, and the former president of Guyana (Jagdeo), are both aware of more than is asserted here. Therefore, it behooves either or both to order a forensic audit of that US$7.3 billion, as there could be a world of trickeries waiting to be exposed. Perhaps, the foremost priority is not to rock Exxon’s boat. Like Isaac Newton, pebbles (US$100 million) are picked up, while an ocean of truth (billions) washes at Guyana’s feet. US$100 million is a red herring.
Sincerely,
GHK Lall
