Accountability Watch

Two Saturdays ago, the President announced the grant of the usual annual tax-free Christmas bonus of one month’s salary to the Disciplined Services for ‘their unwavering service, sacrifice, and commitment to safeguarding the nation’s security’.

Last Monday, the Bolivian Supreme Court sentenced former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada in absentia to six years and three months in prison over his involvement in the issuing of dozens of oil contracts without parliamentary approval.

Last week, Transparency international reported that Ecuador’s National Court sentenced 20 government officials involved a corruption network, known as the Metastasis scandal, that infiltrated the country’s judicial, police and prison systems.

Last Wednesday, the authorities in New York charged Asia’s second richest man and Indian billionaire, Gautam Adani, for his involvement in a US$250 million bribery scheme to develop a major solar power plant in India.

If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total of the bent of his mind; you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the formation of that character.

There continues to be a peddling of the falsehood that the four forensic audits that I had undertaken in 2015 breached the Audit Act 2004 and the Procurement Act.

Last week, Transparency International (TI) reported that former President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for collusion and money laundering.

The signatories to the 2016 Paris Accord on climate change agreed to limit ‘the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2.0°C above pre-industrial levels’ and to pursue ‘efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels’.

In last week’s article, we discussed the proposed appointment of Assistant Commissioner of Police, Clifton Hicken, to the position of Commissioner of Police.

The United States has barred former Ecuador President Rafael Correa and former Vice President Jorge Glas from entry into the United States because of their alleged involvement in corruption.

Hurricane Helene that hit the southeastern part of the United States has so far claimed the lives of at least 226 persons while hundreds remain unaccounted for, as of last Friday.

The Mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, has been indicted on five criminal counts in a corruption probe involving soliciting bribes from wealthy foreign businesspeople as well as receiving illegal campaign contributions from foreign nationals.

The Chinese authorities have suspended PwC Zhong Tian LLP for six months and have imposed of 441 million yuan (US$62 million) over the firm’s audit of the failed property developer, China Evergrande Group.

There we go again. On the heels of the discovery of 4.4 tonnes of cocaine neatly packed and concealed in pits near an illegal airstrip in Matthews Ridge, allegations of corruption have surfaced in the last week in least at two State agencies – Guyana Marketing Corporation and the Mahaica-Mahaicony-Abary Agricultural Development Authority (MMA/ADA).

A senior officer of the Guyana Police Force has reportedly been embroiled in a scandal relating to the procurement of goods and services for the Force.

Last week, we reviewed the status of financial reporting and audit of non-Central Government entities which number 180 and comprising public enterprises, statutory bodies, municipalities and Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs).

Last week, we concluded our discussion of the two Supplementary Estimates totalling $40.8 million that the National Assembly approved three weeks ago.

Two Fridays ago, the National Assembly approved two financial papers presented by the Minister of Finance seeking Supplementary Estimates in the sum of $40.8 billion.

On 29 July 2024, the Chief Justice ruled that the 30 percent excise tax imposed by the Guyana Revenue Authority’s (GRA) on a vehicle brought into the country by a remigrant on 28 June 2024, was unlawful.

Last Friday’s Stabroek News editorial captioned “The AG and the Judiciary” referred to High Court decision in the case involving the enforcement of an arbitral award by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) against the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.