Jagdeo rubbishes Govt’s excuses for secret account

…as FMA Act disproves claims transaction was above board

US$18M bonus

Following the People’s Progressive Party’s (PPP) intense criticism of the US$18 million signing bonus Government received from ExxonMobil, a counter argument was advanced that the previous Government had set up irregular accounts to receive sums of money during its tenure.
Foreign Affairs Minister Carl Greenidge, in seeking to make the case that holding monies outside of the Consolidated Fund was not unusual, had referred to the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC). But on Thursday, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo rubbished those criticisms.
Jagdeo stressed during a press conference that the PPP has always placed monies in funds covered by the law. The same, he noted, cannot be said for the signing bonus which was placed in an account outside of the Consolidated Fund and the purview of the Auditor General.
“They said that the Lotto Fund (monies) should have been transferred to the Consolidated Fund. (They said) we shouldn’t have kept monies in the Lotto Fund, the GGMC, in the Housing Fund, the Forestry Commission, NFMU (National Frequency Management Unit). Now every single one of those agencies had special funds set up by legislation. That is by acts of Parliament.”
Jagdeo noted that while the previous administration has never put public monies where they were not covered by law, the coalition Government has done so in less than three years.
Jagdeo slammed the fact that while the PPPC Administration was criticized for holding monies outside of the Consolidated Fund in funds provided for by law, anti-corruption advocates are now excusing this breach.
“In less than three years, they’ve paid US$18 million in revenue in an account not provided for by Constitution or law,” Jagdeo said. “(These are) totally different situations. So all the spin by DPI and the ministers about how this happened before, it never happened before under the PPP. Let’s clear that.”

Contradictions
While addressing the National Assembly, Greenidge had insisted that no laws were broken. He had referred to the fact that Section 37 (2) of the FMAA provides for public monies to be held in extra budgetary funds and deposit funds… that is, until they are credited to the Consolidated Fund.
But Jagdeo pointed out that the FMA Act in fact contradicts Greenidge, who is a former Minister of Finance. Section 42 mandates that after a deposit fund is established, the minister has to inform the National Assembly of the fund’s existence.
According to Section 42 (2) of the Act, the Minister also has to specify “the source or sources of the moneys in the deposit fund; the purpose or purposes for which moneys may be expended from the deposit fund; the banking arrangements for the deposit fund, and the intended investment strategy for the moneys deposited in the deposit fund.”
The account for the signing bonus was set up at the Central Bank not by Act of Parliament or legislation, but by request from the Ministry of Finance. The transaction first came to light after Guyana Times published a leaked correspondence dated September 20, 2016 and addressed to the Governor of the Bank of Guyana with this subject: “Signing bonus granted by ExxonMobil – Request to open bank account”.
It shows that Finance Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Hector Butts, had requested that a foreign currency account be opened at the Bank, in order to receive a deposit in the form of a ‘signing bonus’ to be given by ExxonMobil.
Amidst criticism, Government officials have defended the secrecy by saying the money would be used to pay legal fees in defense of Guyana’s sovereignty, should its case with Venezuela reach the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
When asked whether he accepted that placing the US$18 million outside of the Consolidated Fund was illegal, President David Granger himself had professed ignorance of anything illegal with the transaction.