The political opposition is of the firm conviction that the second ongoing audit of ExxonMobil’s expenses, if conducted correctly, may reveal more contestable expenditures than the first audit performed in 2019.
During the Office of the Leader of the Opposition’s press conference held on Thursday, Economic and Youth Policy Advisor, Elson Low referred to the first-ever audit of the Stabroek Block partner’s $1.6B in expenses incurred from 1999 to 2017, which showed questionable costs of approximately US$214M. That report remains under review by the government.
Of that sum, the government claims that around US$180M requires further documentation from Exxon’s subsidiary, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) to confirm whether or not the company has been attempting to short change Guyana. Additionally, the report in question states that government has been advised to reclaim some US$34M in expenses as they were not in keeping with the requirements of the 2016 Stabroek Block PSA.
Low noted that the revelations in the first audit ordered by the former coalition government, which was conducted by British firm, IHS Markit have justified the opposition’s calls for the government to build local capacity to effectively audit and monitor the operations of EEPGL. He further contended that, despite the magnitude of the sums in question, the government seems to be practicing collusion, negligence and recklessness in the audit of these expenses.
On the foregoing premise, he expressed concern about the possible findings that would be made by the second audit being conducted by VHE Consulting. VHE is a registered partnership between four local companies (Ramdihal & Haynes Inc; Eclisar Financial; and Vitality Accounting & Consultancy Inc) that was hired to examine Exxon’s expenses that were incurred from 2018-2020 to the tune of US$7.3B, which is more than four times larger than the first audit.
Low also emphasized that Guyanese must demand that the PPP release all the audit reports and recover all invalid expenses. He also expressed the belief that the PPP’s cavalier attitude in the management of the country’s national patrimony will cost Guyana tens of billions of dollars.
Notably, the Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo recently denounced claims that the government is intentionally hiding the audit report from public scrutiny. He also clarified that the second audit was only delayed to include more local companies in the much-needed review process. He noted that the report done by IHS Markit is with both the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Guyana Revenue Authority, and is undergoing careful examination. The official committed to making the reports public at the appropriate time.
