The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) issued a statement on Wednesday morning clarifying, once and for all, that the audit into ExxonMobil’s US$1.7B audit remains closed with US$214M in disputed sums. The entity’s statement comes on the heels of recent disclosures by Exxon Guyana’s Country Manager, Alistair Routledge that the audit remained ongoing. In fact, Routledge said his company received a letter from GRA last week, indicating that the auditor, IHS Markit, has been re-engaged in an effort review any further documentation that is available to substantiate the US$214M in queried sums.
Routledge’s comments during a press engagement with reporters were also in stark contrast with Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo’s announcement that the audit was closed. Guyana Standard even reminded the Country Manager at his Tuesday presser of the latest position at the time by Dr. Jagdeo who serves as the chief policy maker for the sector but Routledge indicated that the letter from GRA proves otherwise.
GRA’s Commissioner General in a subsequent statement said the audit is closed. “Further, the authority unequivocally states that its correspondence to IHS Markit seeking clarity to the said ‘Audit Report Recommendation Final’ and copied to Exxon should in ‘no way or form’ be construed as a change in the authority’s position that the Cost Bank Adjustment of US$214.4M be adjusted, nor to re-open the process as intimated by the CEO of ExxonMobil Guyana Limited,” said Statia in the statement.
