While an audit of the operations of the government’s Asphalt Plant has raised several questions about procurement, sale, and record keeping practices, the purchase of an $897,000 bracelet for the General Manager of the Demerara Harbour Bridge as a gift is standing out in the report.
According to the report, the pricy gift was purchased for the General Manager in November 2019 in observance of International Men’s Day. He was also the person who approved the purchase and the price tag was covered by the Asphalt Plant and the Demerara Harbour Bridge Corporation.
In the report, it was noted that gifts were given to all men within the organization and that it was standard practice, but based on the report, those other gifts all carried a $10,000 price tag.
The Board of the Demerara Harbour Bridge is expected to address that issue soon.
The auditors found that the Asphalt Plant did not maintain adequate documents for the years 2013 and 2014 making it difficult to perform any audit work for those years.
It noted however, that the sale of asphalt on credit was poorly managed as there is no policy governing the sale of goods on credit.
The report highlighted the provision of material to government contractors with very little documentation, although the management later explained that some of the provisions were accommodated because of emergency works.
Several recommendations have been made by the auditors to strengthen the accounting practices of the Asphalt Plant.
The audit was ordered by the Minister of Works following media reports which raised concern about the operation of the Asphalt Plant.
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