…employees admit to fraud – Chairman
As the probe widens at the Guyana Gold Board (GGB) over several fraudulent transactions that amounted to millions of dollars, the Chairman of that institution, Gabriel Lall, said the two employees have admitted to the being engaged in the unlawful act.
These two employees, an accountant and a clerk, were recently sent on administrative leave pending the outcome of further investigations. Both employees have been in the employ of GGB for over 10 years. 
Lall told a press conference on Friday that the duo has admitted to manipulating assay figures in the management information system and taking monies for themselves.
“The documentation is thorough; the evidence is persuasive and comprehensive… And in addition to that, the investigation is ongoing and we do not know where it will lead,” Lall remarked.
Acting General Manager of GGB, Eondrene Thompson said the first sign of fraud was spotted one month ago when a client, who normally takes in a high quality of gold to the Board received results that showed low quality; and another one with a very low quality came back with a very high quality.
“So we decided to investigate it. It turned out that it wasn’t switched in that client’s assay but that was rectified. However, we decided to comb the system and that is when we unearthed a couple of inconsistencies,” Thompson said, explaining that they went back to as far as January 2017.
The GGB’s acting General Manager further stated that the name employees who were implicated, were found on every false document that was discovered. She said it was found that these same employees have been taking a lot of monies for their personal benefit.
Thompson said in many cases, they were taking payment advice numbers for small clients, who were selling less than 10 ounces, and put on fabricated assay certificates and a large client’s name would be used, and the percentage paid out. “They were using people who were not owed as the surrogate,” Lall added, saying it was manipulation of the books and violated policies.
Although there may be concerns about client’s assays being compromised due to this probe, she affirmed that this was not the case as the documents which were used to defraud the entity of the money were false. It was revealed that the employees reduced payments to clients and paid themselves the differences. In other cases, clients’ entire assays were paid out without them being aware.
Meanwhile, the GGB Chairman took wrap for the loophole and said the Board has one of the most robust systems in place. However, he noted that some Board members had resisted the introduction of an upgraded and secure system that may have served to prevent the swindle.
“We paid tens of millions of dollars for a complete system and what was delivered here was half of a system and when I raised my voice at somebody, they reported to the Minister (Raphael Trotman) that I threatened them…We have a half of a system where there are people in the trenches know that this is how it operates and they try to work their way around it,” Lall said.
Earlier this year, senior staff members of the GGB were sent on leave to facilitate a probe of alleged links to an embattled gold dealer, Saddiqi Mohamed Rasul, who was charged for the $956 million fraud at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI).
Shortly after Rasul was granted $3 million bail on the fraud charges in April, reports surfaced that he sold gold to the Gold Board regularly. There were also reports that he allegedly purchased yellow metal above the London Fix; deposited and withdrew millions of dollars from his company’s bank account, and was allowed to pay only the five per cent royalty and not the two per cent tax.
