PAC probes $115.9M still unreconciled on Guyana Post Office books

…Auditor General, Finance Ministry to engage management

A sum of $115.9 million, which has been unreconciled on the books of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) for years and was flagged in the Auditor General’s 2019 report, was interrogated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) during its statutory sitting on Monday.

During Monday’s sitting of the PAC, the Auditor General’s 2019 findings on the Ministry of Social Protection was examined. Surprisingly, it was found that the Guyana Post Office Corporation had still not reconciled $115.9 million on its books, which has been brought forward several years.
Permanent Secretary Shannielle Hoosein-Outar said that the Ministry has opened a new account in order to balance the books. But the $115.9 million is still outstanding. Public Works Minister and PAC member Juan Edghill questioned why this was the case.
“So, what [you] would have done is use an accounting mechanism to have an opening balance continue to go forward while [you] deal with the backlog. But the Auditor General is dealing with the backlog.”

“We have $115 million that is not reconciled. Is it because we can’t find vouchers? Is it because we have unpresented vouchers from the post office? Why do we still have $115 million that is unreconciled? What steps are being made to address this?” Edghill questioned.
However, Hoosein-Outar noted that the cash books have not been prepared properly, dating back years. Moreover, it was further clarified by Ministry staff that no reconciliation was being done between the then Ministry of Human Services and post office for a number of years. However, Edghill pointed out that a mechanism was set up to have the books balanced that should have been followed.
“So, we had a fraud at the post office, in relation to old age pension. The Auditor General and Accountant General saw to this matter. The post office accounts were not audited for decades,” Edghill said.

“We were able to start a process of auditing and getting the books up to date and an agreement was made that we would have to draw the red line at some point and then start a new process from there. Are you telling me that red line was drawn and that new process is still producing this?”
Auditor General Deodat Sharma meanwhile disclosed that efforts were made to work with the post office, but those efforts had stalled. He noted that the Audit Office will have to get assistance on the matter form the internal audit office of the Ministry of Finance, on the way forward.
“We have worked on the audit of the accounts for the Guyana Post Office up to 2021, but it’s a disclaimer. So, there’s a disclaimer and we still have issues. The next step is we have to do a check between the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social Protection and the post office, to determine what is the true position in terms of who owes who.”
“I think this is a balance brought forward several years and is unreconciled. The Ministry of Social Protection was trying to work on some of the differences, but I don’t think it moved forward because the information the post office provided is uncertain,” Sharma further explained.
Meanwhile, Finance Secretary Sukrishnalall Pasha explained that at a previous meeting, they were told that the reconciliation might not be possible because the information needed in order to bring the books up to date is difficult to gather.
“So, this is something I intend to discuss with the AG, to come up with some solution. But to my recollection, it was clear that the reconciliation would be difficult if not impossible to complete, due to the lack of information,” Pasha said. (G3)