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…correspondences show
Among the reasons given by Attorney General (AG) Anil Nandlall for the firing of former Head of the Special Purpose Unit (SPU), Colvin Heath-London was his failure to facilitate and procure account reconciliation to allow the Auditor General to audit NICIL’s accounts from 2014 to 2019.
However, an investigation conducted by the Village Voice Guyana shows that though Heath-London was not retained by the Government to perform duties as NICIL’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (ag) until late 2018, there were numerous letters sent to the Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, requesting that he conducts an audit as far back as 2014 but the requests were not heeded.
Several letters seen by the Village Voice Guyana, sent between August 2019 and March 2020, show that NICIL’s Board of Directors had discussed the outstanding audits which date back to 2014, under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Administration, and contacted the Auditor General providing the necessary information and requesting that the audits commence.
THE 2014 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Heath-London did not serve as CEO (ag) until November 2018 after former CEO, the late Horace James, was hospitalised. Before then, it was Winston Brassington who headed NICIL up until he resigned in January 2016. It would mean that Brassington, who served under the PPP/C regime, was responsible for facilitating the auditing of NICIL’s account for 2014 and 2015 but failed to do so.
A memorandum sent to the Board of Directors in January 2020 presented a summary of the events pertaining to the Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2014. It detailed that the Financial Statements were completed in July 2017, following a correction of errors to bring the documents in keeping with NICIL’s prescribed format.
The Board of Directors agreed with the financial statements but when it went to Director of Budget, Sonia Roopnauth – who was also a Board Director at the time— for final signature, months passed and she did not approve the same. The Finance Manager at the time followed up with Roopnauth straight into 2018 on a weekly basis and reminders were also given to her at Board meetings. However, Roopnauth never returned the financial statements with her signature and, at the end of 2018, the Board decided to reprint and redistribute the statements for execution.
At this time, Roopnauth was no longer a Director on the Board, and the 2014 draft statements received the necessary signatories and were forwarded to the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). However, it was later determined that there were discrepancies between the draft in the audit working paper file and the version submitted by NICIL. This was attributed to different presentation templates and the movements in Statement of Financial Position (SOFP) items.
Following a meeting between NICIL and the OAG in July 2019, it was agreed that the Finance Controller, Geary Reid, would make all necessary adjustments and the modified statements for 2014 – 2018 were completed and sent for approval. “To date, none of those statements were approved,” Reid stated in the memorandum which detailed the issues with the 2014 audit.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS UP TO 2018
In August 2019, the Finance Controller sent a memorandum to the Board of Directors regarding an update on the audit of financial statements from 2014-2018. In it, he acknowledged that the expectation was that the financial statements for the years would be finalized by the OAG and approved by the Directors within the last quarter of 2019. This did not take place within the expected time frame. In the new year, on January 20, 2020, a letter was sent from NICIL’s Finance Controller to the Auditor General inquiring about the outstanding audited Financial Statements from 2014 to 2018. He asked that the AOG indicate whether additional information was needed so that these could be provided and the completed audit could eventually be submitted to the National Assembly.
Again, on March 13, 2020, another letter was sent from NICIL’s Finance Controller to the Auditor General. It stated: “Please be informed that the financial records for the year 2014 are available for your team to begin the audit. A revised copy of the financial statement was sent to your office and we are awaiting your team to conduct the audit, since this year’s financial statement has an impact on the other financial years.”
It was noted therein that NICIL was looking forward to a conclusion of the process in the “shortest possible time”. However, according to Attorney General, Anil Nandlall, in his dismissal letter to Heath-London on October 30, 2020, these audits were not completed. The AG also stated that Heath-London failed to facilitate the auditing of SPU’s accounts for several years. However, the Village Voice has seen another letter sent by then interim CEO, Radha Sharma — appointed by the PPP/C — to the Auditor General on September 28, 2020 in which he acknowledged that the financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2018 – 2019 and the current financial period of January 1, 2020 – August 31, 2020 were previously prepared and available for auditing.
