The Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday said that the Office of the Auditor General will verify and certify an audit of a reported discrepancy at the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC).
The statement came in response to an editorial in Kaieteur News.
“Another issue was raised in the editorial as it relates to the `two officials at the Guyana Marketing Corporation being fingered in yet another scam.’ A case of discrepancy was reported to the ministry and an audit is being conducted by the internal auditor which will be verified and certified by the Auditor General’s Office. The ministry is awaiting this process to be completed”, the statement said.
It is unclear how long such a process will take. It is standard practice where there is suspicion of fraud to refer the matter to the police. Why this has not been done is unclear.
On September 11, Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustapha said he had initiated a probe of certain “irregularities and discrepancies” at the GMC.
A release from his ministry came in response to a post on social media.
“We categorically state that the Ministry and its Head Office are not involved in the purchase or sale of chicken or eggs, as implied by the post. Responsibility for these matters falls under the jurisdiction of the Guyana Marketing Corporation (GMC), which is managed by General Manager Ms. Teshawna Lall.
“In recent weeks, the Honourable Minister initiated an audit and investigation into certain irregularities and discrepancies within the GMC. It is important to note that this is a transparent process to ensure accountability and rectify any administrative lapses.
“The Ministry believes that the timing of this misleading post is unfortunate, as it seems intended to distract from the ongoing investigation at the GMC. We urge members of the public not to be swayed by baseless accusations and to await the outcome of the official investigations, which are being conducted with the highest level of integrity”, the release said.
Later in the day, Lall disputed this statement and said that she was the one who had initiated the probe.
In an interview with Stabroek News, Lall said that she launched the audit after noticing irregularities involving the Accountant and the Special Projects Manager (SPM).
“Basically, the information that the Ministry put out is not correct,” Lall said. “I was the one that called the audit based on some irregularities I was noticing between the Accountant and the Special Projects Manager”, she said.
According to Lall, the SPM frequently failed to claim expenses, submit reports, and was often preoccupied with selling chicken.
“When I went to the accountant and asked him for the records, he doesn’t have any to give me and the SPM doesn’t have any to give me either”, the GMC GM said.
Lall’s frustration grew as the situation persisted. “So, it kept going on like this for a couple of weeks and I finally got fed up,” she recounted. “I called her in and I said, ‘You’re going to go and get it done now, stop selling the chickens, I need to know why you’re not coming in.’”
After her internal efforts proved unfruitful, Lall took her concerns to the Ministry of Agriculture.
“Long story short, she kept having me go around and around with wrong information and I ended up going into the Ministry and telling them that something doesn’t seem right and I would like to call in an auditor,” Lall said. The Ministry arranged for the audit two weeks later.
The audit reportedly uncovered collusion between the Accountant and the SPM, along with instances of fraud. Lall and her team have been reviewing the findings.
“We have come to the conclusion that the audit is somewhat accurate,” she said. “Upon giving the Accountant and the SPM time to defend themselves to see if we missed anything, they kept calling in sick and producing medicals and documents started missing.”
Currently, Lall is awaiting further instructions from the Ministry on how to proceed. “I have been on the Ministry to make a decision, because I didn’t want to act on my own, as to if they will call in the police and terminate them and so on,” she said. “So currently I am still waiting on them to make a decision.”
