Minister of State of the Ministry of the Presidency, Mr. Joseph Harmon, is adamant that missing State assets of all sorts will be delved into, in an effort to restore what is rightfully the property of the people of Guyana.
Towards this end, Mr. Harmon speaking with some sections of the media today at his office explained that the Government is planning to set up a State Asset Recovery Unit that will look into the issue of State assets that have been siphoned off, both locally and abroad, by various people and bodies.
He stated that the plan is to link with international agencies, in order to establish International Best Practices, and help for this seems certain in the offing. Minister Harmon noted that the unit will be a multi-agency one, independent and free from political intervention.
He alluded to the fact that the eminent economist, Professor Clive Thomas, roughly calculated that some $300 billion were siphoned off per year, a figure that was upped to $500 billion by a major external financial body. According to Mr. Harmon, even if is just a fraction of say “10% or 20% per cent of what was taken over the years is recovered, it will be substantial and it will do a lot of good to the state of the country and its economy.”
The Minister noted that this kind of recovery attempt is a work in progress that will unfold more in weeks to come. His goal at the time was to provide some answers that Guyanese are looking for in this area of the recovery of the country’s assets. He cautioned against ‘hurry’ noting that “these things take time and it may appear as though nothing is being accomplished.”
The bottom line, said the Minister, is that it must be accepted that people who are culpable where the nation’s assets are concerned “will not get away with it.”
He elaborated that when the recovery unit is conducting its work, it will do so with various recommendations that will be taken up by the Government. He spelled out too that the unit will be vested with broad powers and will not be vulnerable to political strictures. In fact, the Minister emphasised that the body will report directly to the National Assembly, and not ministers per se.
Mr. Harmon also reminded that that Cabinet has approved audits for over 30 entities, and that the new Minister of Finance Winston Jordan is ensuring that monies assigned to the Consolidated Funds are indeed going there.
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