In 2019, vehicles not on Reg.5’s inventory received fuel paid for by regional administration- PAC hears

The Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Monday continued to scrutinise discrepancies on the part of the regional administration in Region Five (Mahaica- Berbice) and it was found that in 2019 vehicles not in the inventory were receiving fuel.

This was flagged in the Auditor General’s report. According to that report, there were 18 instances, totalling $253,913, where 1,195 litres of gasoline were purchased for vehicle number PTT 1184.

That vehicle, the report pointed out, is not listed on the region’s vehicle inventory.

But this isn’t the first time this has happened. The AG’s report also pointed out that in 2018, there were 41 instances totalling $475,713 where purchases of fuel were made for 26 vehicles also not on the region’s inventory.

But Regional Engineer, Dhanpaul Sukha suggested that the issue flagged was just one of simple human error.

“… at times, what we found is that there is always a mix-up; there’s always some issue on the bill number where they write a number wrong or a letter wrong.

“So it doesn’t always matchup and that’s where the audit office would’ve picked up that there were vehicles with numbers that don’t coincide with what we have on our inventory,” Sukha said.

When government parliamentarian Juan Edghill attempted to randomly crosscheck the number plates of the vehicles said to have received fuel but aren’t on the register, it was difficult to find matches that had just a letter or number different from those on the register.

And Edghill pointed out that the regional administration would have been able to look into this issue after it was flagged by the Auditor General.

“… in less than one hour, the Guyana Revenue Authority could tell us who is the owner of that vehicle and if it is under the region,” Edghill said.

The PAC also found out that the system of requisition for fuel was being incorrectly done and internal documents may have been unintentionally shared with gas stations.

The incorrect process, the PAC heard from the current Regional Executive Officer (REO) Genevieve Blackman, continued.

So the PAC urged the regional officials to get acquainted with the correct procedures.

The PAC also agreed to scrutinise this matter further at a later date, opting to give the regional administration some time to reconcile the information provided to the Auditor General and heard by the PAC.