PS says no continuing ‘fuel scam’ at Education Min.

PERMANENT Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Education (MoE)), Alfred King, says that instances of the ministry being flagged for unauthorised vehicles obtaining fuel in 2019, was due to a mix up of licence plate numbers recorded, and there is no continuing fuel scam at the ministry.

He further explained that previous cases of fuel scams at MoE have already been dealt with; the culprit was held accountable, and has since agreed to repay for the fuel. In the 2019 Auditor General’s Report, which was laid in the National Assembly last week, vehicles, which were not owned by the ministry, were flagged for uplifting over $40,000 in fuel from the GuyOil, Camp Street location. For 2019, the MoE had procured $23.385 million in fuel and lubricants from GuyOil, the report revealed.

“Audit examination, carried out on a sample of three months fuel slips from GUYOIL, revealed that on three instances, three vehicles that were not on the list of vehicles owned and operated by the ministry, uplifted 213 litres of fuel to the value of $46,161 from the GUYOIL Camp Street location,” the report informed.
The AG report also flagged the agency for lack of proper maintenance of required log books to monitor the vehicles owned by the ministry, which is used to track the purchase of fuel for the respective vehicles.

“Section 29 of the Stores Regulations requires that log books be maintained for all motor vehicles, plant, machinery and equipment. Of the 45 vehicles owned and operated by the ministry that were required to maintain log book, only 22 Log Books were presented for audit examination. Of the log books presented, only seven were properly written up to reflect the purchase of fuel and authorised journeys,” the report noted.

However, on the issue of unauthorised vehicles obtaining fuel in 2019, King said it was a matter of a mix up.
“The analysis that we did showed clearly that it was a mistake. The 2019 case was a mistake by vehicle, when we checked back the slip, the vehicle was the authorised vehicle… the [licence plate] digits were right but the letter was wrong,” King said of the situation during a telephone interview with the Guyana Chronicle on Monday.
The issue of the MoE being flagged for fuel obtained by unauthorised vehicles was particularly troubling, as the ministry was flagged in the past for similar occurrences in 2017 and 2018.

In the 2017 AG report, it was highlighted that 4,351 litres of diesel, totalling $788,773, was obtained under the MoE by six vehicles not registered to the ministry. The incident reportedly occurred in December 2017, with the fuel being uplifted from the GuyOil Regent Street station.

Further, in the 2018 AG report, it was revealed that three vehicles not registered as property of the ministry had also uplifted 1,430 litres of diesel valued at $272,054 from GUYOIL Regent Street location.

The ministry had noted that it wrote the Police in January 2018 to investigate the matter. As such, King said the case has since been dealt with and an agreement was made for the perpetrator to pay for the fuel.

Mark Samuels, a former driver of the ministry, had been charged in 2018 in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court with obtaining $1,054,789 in diesel from GuyOil service station, Regent Street, in the name of Clyde Fowler knowing same to be forged.

“He was taken before the court and the court found him guilty of the malpractice and he was mandated to pay back for the fuel. He developed an agreement to pay back the ministry for the fuel,” King explained.