Is there an explicit conflict of interest in Ms Gitanjali Singh’s case?

by E.A.B John (Stabroek News, JUly 30,2012)

Dear Editor,
After reading and re-reading Mr Anand Goolsarran’s carefully crafted letter to SN, Sunday, July 22, one feels compelled to make some observations, even though they relate to what may be regarded as (minor) details.
The actual records will reveal the following:

i)   Ms Geetanjali Singh’s actual qualifications include the ACCA and Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Management.
ii)  She rejoined the Office of the Auditor General in 2002. At 2005 her position was Assistant Auditor General.
iii) In the year 2005 the respective incumbents were as follows: Auditor General (ag) – Balraj Balram; Deputy Auditor General (ag) – Deodat Sharma.

The first demitted office. His replacement was Mr Sharma and Ms Donna Ellis was appointed to act in the latter’s position.
2005 was the year arrangements were made to reorganise the Audit Office, following its transition from a regular budget agency to a constitutional entity reporting to Parliament via the Public Accounts Committee. The new organisation structure was formally approved by Parliament. The posts of Senior Deputy, Deputy and Assistant Auditor General were deleted from the structure.
The reorganisation structure included the following specific auditing components:

Mr Goolsarran may not have been aware that the new structure which was instituted included the deliberate assignment of specific groups of auditees to the respective Directors (3), to each of whom an Audit Manager reported. (So it could not have been any recent accommodation of the Auditor General (ag)). From 2006 therefore the regulatory framework provided for the senior management team of directors to collate reports and formulate related opinions. Accordingly the latter could not be attributed to any one official, although the Auditor General (ag) would have to take final responsibility therefor.

Incidentally at no time did Ms Singh occupy the position of Deputy Auditor General. In the new dispensation she was one of the Audit Managers (ag).

Further, none of the commentaries so far have asserted their acquaintance with the actual Conflict of Interest Code which is part of the Regulations to the Act, or else they would have recognised the real potential of all the auditing teams being vulnerable.

The question being posed is, if as currently constituted Ms Singh’s portfolio does not include auditees who report to the Ministry of Finance, is there an explicit (and exclusive) conflict of interest?

In this connection it seemed to have been overlooked that by law the Audit Office itself is subject to audit.

A final question relating to a comment that Ms Singh was one of two qualified audit/accounting officials, the other being the Auditor General (ag): Does Mr Goolsarran consider a UG degree in Accountancy a professional qualification, taking into account international standards with which the discipline is required to comply? If yes, then it should be noted that two other (now) Audit Managers have the same qualification as their boss.

So far as the Auditor General (ag) is concerned, however, there are certainly substantive issues of ethical standards, independence and competence. Witness the non-submission of relevant reports on critical national projects retrospective to several years, and to which attention has repeatedly been drawn.

As observed by Mr Goolsarran, the urge should be for his replacement.

Yours faithfully,
E B John

Deconstructing GeeGee

The famous loudmouthed GeeGee a chief advisor (along with Joeseph Govinda Singh). It is these two that gives advice on army options and where to find people in the terrain. Gobin was seen leaving OP late evening just before the linden massacre took place while GeeGee boasts publicly about his advisory role to the Government on security matters. 

GeeGee, a fist-pounding apologist for a former president, owner of Roraima and a couple of aircrafts, recipient of Government's Gift - Duke Lodge, Guyanese-extraordinaire who peddles information to Jadgeo and from Jagdeo to his friends. He is famous for his deal with Duke Lodge that he acquired as a member of the Privitization Unit. He sold to himself this prime real estate and built an ordinary hotel which is boosted by his constant gab as well as political frends.

GeeGee owns a number of small aircrafts that flies to interor locations as well as Suriname and Trinidad. His small planes makes night flights to various mysterious areas and he drops off people and stuff. He also picks up people and stuff. GeeGee was part of the original story of a missing aircraft - He also runs facilities at all the airports that stows bags and suitcases to international and local flights.

GeeGee was one of the master minds in the Government's action during the elections 2011 as well as the previous one. He is a very able advisor to Jagdeo's group and tradesmarks himself as righteous and plain-spoken, but his certificates read Schizophrenia (a mental disorder that makes it hard to: Tell the difference between what is real and not real; Think clearly; Have normal emotional responses).

As the owner of one of the largest buildings in Georgetown, GeeGee built so that his sewage runs through the neighbor's yard while his guttering is in the neighbor's property. Nextdoor (east) to his building is a haunted house whose occupants habitually inhabits his building too, leading to GeeGee's behavioural imbalances.

GeeGee is a pilot, always on the high. His constant dialogue with the Americans reveals the details of Government's actions and plans. From 1996 to current date, GeeGee runs the Private Sector Commission and directs their actions - and the PSC became an arm of the PPP Government.Geegee is also one of the male friends of Jagdeo; a satellite to Jagdeo, wherever there was one, there was the other. He related all the details of certain businessmen to Jagdeo, so that PPP could squeeze the businessmen. He uses his position to inset himself into every aspect of business and government.

GeeGee sits on the privitization unit that sold Guysuco lands, pegasus, the new home of Sam Hinds, GT&T shares, Duke Lodge, Thrust co, etc. In all these deals, GeeGee spied on businessmen and aided Government to sell the business out or to compete with the business, like the GT&T shares and Pegasus(Marriott). GeeGee voted to sell duke lodge to himself, while months before voted in favor of repairing Duke Lodge for 80million. He voted to sell the telephone company shares while spying on the telephone company and running his own evesdropping scam.

GeeGee made his millions during his army days while doing army shipment. Goods were never delivered, flights never made but the logs were created to show delivery and flights, so payments for the goods were made (to GeeGee), the flight was paid for (to GeeGee) and the other goods were uplifted from army barracks and sold (by GeeGee).

Geegee was named in Wikileaks and allegations of drug running have not created a dent in his verbose vituperations. His proud forays into the interior are referred drop points while his wealth built up during the National Service days.

For all his good work, this paragon of virtue today wears a national award for his service to his bank account.

He runs an escort service at Duke Lodge that provides mainly amerindian, and brazilian tastes for the friends of GeeGee. This compliments the similar activities in the Santa Mission area where he has his resort, built by the funds from the airplane that was lost. He also runs a news outfit with his buddy Dookoo (bis.gy) that reports on businessmen and is fronted by Alex Graham and turns over lots of money.

GeeGee forms a perfect role model for our kids who wish to break every rule book and make it big.

Linden's cry

It is always a sad day when police and citizens clash. The current woes of Lindeners are multi-faceted.

The politicians of Guyana continue to lead people, like the pied piper, blindly to point of no return. The Linden situation has many layers.

1) Why should the rest of the country pay for the electricity cost of Lindeners? It is criminal of the PPP government to NOT charge Lindeners for electricity, which the rest of us have to pay for. Each persons must bear their own burden! We are all suffering. In this case, therefore, we support the move to have a small cost of electricity to be borne by the consumers in Linden. We understand that they still will get their first 50 watts free, thereafter they pay a fraction of the national rate. So it is still subsidized. We feel that over five years, Lindeners should be brought to the national rate level.

2) We disagree with the violent approach of the police. While we understand the nature of crowd hostility, killing is unwarranted. Guyana is not the only country with its share of problems and civil unrest. We are not the only country whose small minded politicians-wannabees go out to incite crowds. So let us learn how other countries manage these things! We must not kill our own citizens.

3) The protesters continue to exhibit zero human sense in their approach to challenging Government. Always its the women and children in front, while the call-to-arms by Bond and his ilk are making Guyana return to the days on unrest and mass killings.Where was the Linden Chamber of Commerce before the chaos descended? Where was the Private Sector Commission before the chaos came? Why have they not met with the Government to demand a solution? Where are the NDC? the School teachers? the churches? the town council????

Tun-up

Dear Editor 
      Guyana recently witnessed a bizarre corporate revolution with the resignation of GTT’s CEO whose ebullient spirit was all over the country. Not many people knew that GT&T’s chairman also resigned and was replaced instantly. 
Joeseph Singh (JS) and (SJ) Sonita Jagan then jus’ “tun up”! These two with the same initials “tun-up” to switch us back. 
     Singh, who has been a pawn for the Americans since his Army days, is new Chairman of GT&T’s board and its CEO and is also Chairman of the Gold Board and chief adviser to Government on security (along with GeeGee). 
     It signals high-level corruption in Guyana fuelled by ATN which is allowing these new appointments by paying an employee of Office of the President. Singh and Jagan have been on ATN payroll for the past decade even when Singh was working at OhPee and Jagan was in USA. Everyone knows that a GT&T’s driver worked for Singh while he was working at OP as well with the entire Jagan family. Is there a sinister plot here? The bribery of previous and current GRA officials is well known through. 
      Was ATN keeping Singh to influence the Government while he is on both the payrolls of ATN and Government? Is Singh back now to control Government’s action on the monopoly? Will Singh and Jagan now influence the APNU and AFC to adopt the ATN brand of legislation by doling out american dollars to them? Of course corruption is nothing new to ATN. Some of us older people remembers ATN’s involvement in paying off officials in Guyana. Dating back to the payment for the privatization deals when ATN bought GTC, paying off of judges, commissioners, lawyers and even ministers, a lot of people were paid off over the past twenty years. The last CEO's anti-Government stance obviously upset ATN who signalled their new intent with return of Singh and Jagan.
     And so ATN’s new-old faces now ‘tun-up’ to “switch” back to the good old days of fraud, industrial relations conflict and corruption of officials. 
    Break this monopoly now!


 S. Issacs

Budget 2012

Donald Ramotar will deliver on a campaign promise. The government will lower Value Added Tax from its 16% to a workable percentage and will use the 2012 budget to announce it to its supporters.

The slashing of the VAT is not necessarily what the government wants, since it was one of the taxes vigorously defending by its Former leader Bharrat Jagdeo and whom VAT was implemented under.

Among the reasons the government never wanted to lower vat was the extensive revenue it brought into the coffers. in 2007 alone it raked in $24 billion, but by mid year the following year it had raked in close to $17 billion !

But the PPP administration found itself in a tough position following the last elections. It wants the money, it want to please its supporters who have been complaining about VAT and it wants to get out of this tight hole called minority.

It will play into the Opposition hands, lower VAT, its one of the few Aces in its hands and it will want to play it very well, to secure that one seat that eluded it, putting it back into the driver's seat.

The question is now how LOW is LOW?!

Million dollar taxis

Three tax services earned close to $13 million and $10 million in two years through the Tourism Ministry.

No one could explain why the Ministry continues to use taxis even though vehicles are provided at the ministry.

R &T Taxi Service owned close to $7 million while Green Ice Taxi Service earned $2 million and Indian Chief earned $144000.

It would be interesting to measure how this expenditure translate to the promotion of Tourism.

In search of transparency

Transparency continues to elude this country and even with an Opposition Majority we feel less convinced that our interests will be properly presented.

The facts often presented in the Auditor General report only illuminates what is hear-say around the country and often dismissed. But once we look at the black and white on those pages, we cannot dismiss that we are being taken for fools.

For more than two years we heard about a well funded plan to bring another fiber optic cable to the country using taxpayers money. Under any other circumstance, any project dealing with telecommunications would be dealt with under the Office of the Prime Minister.

This isn't the case, this time around the Office of the President as set up and escrow account with millions of US dollars aimed at executing this project.

Don't get us wrong, we understand that by law the Auditor General can scrutinize any public record but we sincerely doubt that the AG pushed his broom as far as it can reach in this instance. An estimated of more than $800 million for this project his a guess-timate with the AG office seeming reluctant to pursue the finer financial details of the project.

A project that is probably already costing taxpayers, takes up less than two paragraphs in the Ag report.

What is more bothering that is that the Opposition will not use its Economic Services committee to ensure that we get value for money or to ensure that all the financial undertakings of this project is brought to the fore.

What we do know is that the continued abuse of resources will have an everlasting impact on taxpayers.