After much delay owing to its difficulty accessing pertinent information, the Audit Office of Guyana (AOG) is in the process of finalising its report into the controversial, multi-million dollar D’Urban Park Project.
In a brief interview with this publication, Auditor General Deodat Sharma confirmed that they are in the process of wrapping up the probe. He revealed that of late, the Public Infrastructure Ministry submitted some information to his office, which is being verified.
“I think lately they did submit some information, which I’ve passed to my engineers to look at to see if those are the records. I’m about to finalise the report with the response, so I will incorporate what I have and issue the final report,” Sharma said. On the question of possible criminal liability, Sharma was in support of a “wait and see” outlook.
Funding for the D’Urban Park Project has been a contentious issue, with money from the Lotto Fund being used by the APNU/AFC Government in the project. In his 2015 report, the AG had listed some G$36.5 million in Lotto Funds being used for rehabilitative works. As a consequence, Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Irfaan Ali, had previously requested that further probing be done by the Auditor General.
Ali had stated that these requests were in relation to follow-ups from the findings that had been included in the AG’s 2015 Report.
In his 2015 report, the Auditor General had said that following checks on the accounts, it was found that while Government transferred G$1 billion of the Lotto money to the Consolidated Fund in 2015, it held onto just over half a billion dollars to remain under the control of the Ministry of the Presidency and it spent G$305 million on various activities.
But the audit into the D’Urban Park Project has always been hindered by a lack of access to pertinent information, with the Audit Office being forced to write to the Public Infrastructure Ministry requesting documents.
The controversy surrounding the D’Urban Park Project exploded when it was revealed to the public that then Public Service Minister, Dr Rupert Roopnaraine sat as a Director of a secret company, which was established to collect funds from private companies to develop the Jubilee Park.
This information was initially omitted by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson when he was being drilled by Opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) in the National Assembly in 2016.
Additionally, Opposition parliamentarian Juan Edghill has been behind efforts to have the Public Procurement Commission investigate the D’Urban Park Project. In a letter to the Commission’s Chairperson, Carol Corbin, Edghill had identified aspects of the Project the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) was most concerned about.
The Opposition had noted that despite promises to the contrary, no account of donations received between September 2015 and January 2016 was made public. It, therefore, queried the procurement process used for works on the project.
The scope a private company has to engage contractors and receive funding for a public project also came into question. The party queried the budgeted and actual cost throughout the project, as well as the final cost. In addition, the party had demanded information on what payments were made to individuals and contractors up to June.
