Manipulation of Gold Board records…Staffers sent home “admitted” signing fabricated documents
Officials of the State-controlled Guyana Gold Board (GGB) are insisting that the systems there, though far from perfect, are working.
The reassurance would come one day after news broke that the accountant, Rosanna
Gold Board’s Chairman, Gabriel ‘GHK’ Lall; GM (ag), Eondrene Thompson and Stacy Weever, the entity’s Legal Officer (ag), at the press conference yesterday.
Ramnarine, and a clerk, Deborah Forbes, were both sent home recently, amid alleged manipulation of records to raise the purity value of gold sold.
Investigations are continuing and a police probe has not been ruled out.
Gathered yesterday for a press conference on the incident, at the Ministry of Natural Resources boardroom on Brickdam, were GGB’s Chairman Gabriel Lall; General Manager (ag), Eondrene Thompson and Legal Officer (ag), Stacy Weever.
According to Lall, the entity had sent home the two workers amid investigations ongoing, with some financial irregularities surfacing.
The official made it clear that the documentation is thorough, with the evidence “persuasive” and “comprehensive”.
From evidence seen, it is believed that millions were paid out for gold that was of low purity levels.
Using fabricated assay results which speak of purity levels of gold sold, the two staffers alleged oversaw a scheme where the levels were raised and hence more monies were paid out.
According to Thompson, the curiosity of GGB was raised after a miner, who had a track record of gold of high purity, complained. That happened over a month ago.
An internal investigation saw the GGB’s systems being “combed,” starting as far back as January 1, 2017.
To ensure that evidence was not tampered with, a decision was made to send the two staffers home.
According to the officials, several false assay reports were found with the signatures of the two staffers. The duo “admitted” that the signatures belonged to them.
It was explained that Gold Board uses a number of systems including certification from its labs, from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and from the Royal Canadian Mint (RCM). The latter is the company that refines the yellow metal for the GGB. Some miners have been using RCM to certify the purity of gold sold and that has been accepted as a trusted process, reporters were told.
NOT COMPROMISED
According to Lall, no miners’ gold could have been compromised as representatives are present when their gold is being processed at GGB – so opportunities for wrongdoing are almost non-existent at that stage.
According to the acting GM, the Gold Board’s system allows for miners’ profiles to be tracked…this means that the entity is aware of which of the miners are bringing high quality gold and from which area.
“We found a situation where one client’s assay is in his name. He usually has a high percentage and the results came back as a lower payout factor. When that result came back it was lower than his usual, it’s contrary to his profile. So, we decided to investigate it.”
Lall, who said he takes responsibility and that the situation has to be corrected, was harsh about the current GGB’s system which he described as “benign” and “open-ended”.
The two staffers have been there for decades, with others aware of the shortcomings in the system, the Chairman disclosed.
With tough anti-money laundering regulations, and especially with a major ongoing investigation into irregularities earlier this year, GGB doesn’t want a recurrence of what happened before. There has been a heightened state of awareness with enhanced risk mitigation systems in place, and they are working, Lall insisted. He made it clear that the entity is working to bring improvement, clarity and transparency, but there must also be confidence.
Responding to questions about the cooperation of the two staffers, the Chairman would only say that what was presented to the staffers was “agreed to”.
Speaking about reported recommendations made in the past to further tighten GGB’s systems, an upset Chairman said that he was angry about what he inherited.
The special system, for which tens of millions of dollars were paid, is only “half” working. In fact, Lall said that when he raised the matter with an official, a complaint was filed against him to a Minister for allegedly threatening the official.
Lall admitted that persons were familiar with the weaknesses of Gold Board systems or as he described it…the “unchanging nature”. He also disclosed that persons, especially in the Accounts Department of GGB, would be aware of the limitations of the system.
Already, the Chairman said, he has notified RCM of the issue.
Gold Board has over 200 miners on its database who transacts business.
With regards to the evidence against the two staffers, Lall said that it is “pretty conclusive” and “pretty convincing”.