The Office of the Auditor General is said to be on the verge of launching a special investigation into reported irregularities in the Wildlife Unit, in particular the recent export of dolphins by an unlicensed company.
Word from a well-placed source is that the Audit Office is in the process of determining whether or not the Wildlife Unit is autonomous, since that would have a bearing on whether or not it could be investigated. The issue goes to jurisdiction and sources say that it would be easier to conduct the investigation if the Unit falls under the purview of the Office of the President which is how it is presently described.
In addition to the special investigation, the Audit Office is also completing an audit of the unit’s 2002 accounts and is also checking on the unit’s background information. A check of the newly passed Audit Act 2004 revealed that when fully enacted, it would empower the Auditor General to obtain information and evidence and inspect bank accounts. The Act was passed in March this year but has not yet been activated. The Act states that for the purpose of the discharge of his duties, the Auditor General may require a public entity or an employer to produce documents in their custody and provide the Auditor General with information or an explanation about any information. The Auditor General may, in the course of the discharge of his functions, require a person to give evidence either orally or in writing.
The Auditor General would also be enabled through the Act to specify when budgetary agencies - in this case the Wildlife Unit - have to provide information on the accounts of the transactions of the agency. For the purpose of accessing documents, information or other evidence relevant to matters arising in the discharge of his duties, the Auditor General or his authorised officer may enter and remain on a public entity’s premises through a court order.
A source close to the Office of the Auditor General said that for the Act to take full effect, a manual governing rules, policies and procedures has to be completed. But this has not yet happened, since Minister of Finance Saisnarine Kowlessar has to issue an order to bring the Act into effect. Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Dr Roger Luncheon said yesterday he has no administrative authority in the Guyana Wildlife Management Authority and that he was not a member of the Board. He was speaking at his Post-Cabinet press briefing yesterday in light of claims that he had been passing instructions to the management of the wildlife division and taking decisions in relation to it. He said too that there must have been some misconception or “downright falsification that has sought to establish that I have been providing instructions to the Wildlife Unit or to the Authority on issues.” According to attorney-at-law Khemraj Ramjattan, Former Head of the Wildlife Unit, Khalawan (his full name), said Luncheon gave him the order for the dolphins to be exported. A letter that Luncheon sent to Secretary to the Board, Kellawan Lall and copied to Khalawan stated: “After discussion with the staff of the Wildlife Management Unit, I would like you to consider the following proposals; * A one-off permit being issued to the exporter to govern the export of the species... * The cost of each animal being US$20,000 (as against a recommended price of US$30,000 because of the proximity of Mexico to Guyana); * The administrative arrangements and trading specifications being handled by the Wildlife Unit.”
Khalawan was terminated from his post last week after he was found responsible for authorising a shipment of dolphins on behalf of McNeal Enterprises, a company owned by Presidential Advisor on Empowerment, Odinga Lumumba. The company has no licence to trade in wildlife.
Luncheon said the Guyana Wildlife Management Authority falls well within his remit, since it is among the designated areas falling under the President’s purview.
“In my engagement with the authority it has always been clear that it [was to] listen, to seek explanations for the benefit of the Office of the President and to offer advice to the authority itself,” Luncheon said yesterday.
Ramjattan had said on Tuesday that he was preparing legal action on his client’s behalf for the termination of service on the grounds that he was being made the scapegoat for several government officials who had given him both verbal and written authority. Luncheon said that his “infrequent” encounters with the management authority was to solicit information for Cabinet and to offer advice. Luncheon added that the President as Minister for wildlife is expected to give general guidelines.
Luncheon said the issue of whether or not he would recuse himself from speaking officially on the controversy - since he is alleged to have issued instructions - has a lot to do with the likelihood of his being asked, or an occasion presenting itself, that suggests that he needs to.
He said Lall and himself have constant engagements to keep up to date on what is transpiring in the Management Authority and the Scientific Authority so that Cabinet could be briefed. He said for this reason he does not believe that he would be able to perform a responsible role if he were to recuse himself from involvement in matters under the President’s remit. According to Luncheon, his involvement in the Guyana Wildlife Management Authority is not only because of his role in the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Natural Resources, but also his own training and interest in scientific matters.
The licence for wildlife traders is called the Guyana Wildlife Management Authority Commercial Exportation License and is stipulated under Regulation 29 of the Species Protection Regulation 1999 and the Environmental Protection Act of 1996. A source close to the Scientific Authority stated that the dolphins being listed as an Appendix Two species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), means that they are threatened. The source said the export of dolphins has always been a grey area, since it is a migratory species and it would be difficult to determine where they originated.