Guyana’s Integrity Commission should move beyond the mere submission of financial reports of senior public servants and politicians and add investigating the declarations to see if they match with the opulent lifestyles many officials live, former auditor general Anand Goolsarran has said.
“With the assistance of experts, it should critically examine all declarations and carry out whatever investigation it considers necessary to ensure they are complete and accurate and there is no mismatch between the declarations and the observable lifestyles of public officials,” he wrote in his “Accountability” column published today.
Pointing to outlines set by world international watchdog body Transpa-rency International (TI), he said that the organisation notes that public officials must be held accountable for accurately reporting their assets, as mandated by law. Requiring asset declarations, along with effective monitoring and enforcement, is key to identifying conflict of interest and fighting corruption.