Guyana Anti Corruption Network

*A Guyana Anti-Corruption Network Special Report, based on disclosures and documentary evidence from whistleblowers within the institution.*

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**GEORGETOWN, GUYANA** – The office tasked with scrutinizing every cent of public expenditure, the Auditor General’s Department, stands accused of operating as a corrupt family enterprise where theft, nepotism, and intimidation are the standard, an explosive investigation reveals.

Whistleblowers have provided the Guyana Anti-Corruption Network with a devastating dossier of evidence alleging that Auditor General **Deodat Sharma** and senior manager **Geeta Singh** have systematically turned a key pillar of national accountability into their personal fiefdom. The allegations include a confirmed ghost employee, rampant favoritism, misuse of state travel funds, and the deliberate deprivation of legitimate staff benefits.

### **THE CORE ALLEGATIONS:**

**1. The Ghost Employee: The Auditor General’s Son**
For over three years—from **2019 to 2023**—the son of Auditor General Deodat Sharma remained on the public payroll **without performing a single day of work**. Internal inquiries to Human Resources were met with the repeated claim that he was “on leave.” It was only after media scrutiny began that his name was abruptly removed from the payroll earlier this year.

**Crucially, the salary paid for those years—a direct theft of taxpayer funds—has never been refunded.** “He is the head of the office; he authorized those payments,” a senior audit staffer stated. “This isn’t an oversight; it is theft.”

**2. “A Family Affair”: The Web of Nepotism & Political Entanglement**
The ghost payroll scandal is the tip of an iceberg of systemic nepotism and political entanglements. The office is described by insiders as “a family affair” with direct ties to the highest echelons of government:

* **The Sharma Network:** Beyond the ghost son, Auditor General Deodat Sharma has **an adopted daughter, Sushmita Singh, who works as a clerk** yet routinely accompanies him on **all-expenses-paid overseas “work” trips to destinations like Jamaica and Barbados**. Sushmita Singh is stationed at RDC 6 Audit Office. Furthermore, **another daughter of Deodat Sharma is employed within the office’s Human Resources department**, raising severe concerns about the impartiality of internal grievance and disciplinary processes.

* **The Singh Network & A High-Profile Conflict of Interest:** Senior Manager **Geeta Singh** is the **wife of sitting Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh**. This relationship creates a staggering and fundamental conflict of interest, as the Auditor General’s Office is constitutionally mandated to audit the financial affairs and expenditures of the Ministry of Finance, which her husband leads. Despite this, Geeta Singh has installed multiple relatives within the department:
* Her sister, **Mona Singh**, left the Audit Office around the year 2000. When she returned years later, she was **reinstated at the same managerial level with no break in service**, bypassing standard public service rules. She now holds a confirmed Audit Manager post.

* Singh also has **two nephews** employed within the department.  Hemraj Singh works under a Singh loyalist, Ryan McKenzie as a Senior Audit Clerk.
* **Favouritism & Promotion:** Staff universally point to **Arune Gopaul**, who was promoted to Audit Supervisor under Geeta Singh’s tenure shortly after the APNU government took office and her husband, the Finance Minister, departed the previous administration. Employees allege a personal relationship between Singh and Gopaul, noting he is “always in her office” and that his promotion lacked merit-based justification. “Only God knows based on what he got promoted,” one source said.

**3. Punishment, Intimidation, and Inequity**
While connected individuals flourish, rank-and-file auditors face targeted deprivation. For **nearly two years**, their applications for standard duty-free concessions have been deliberately stalled, while their supervisors—including the promoted Arune Gopaul—enjoy the benefit.

“Auditors and supervisors are doing the same core work. This is pure victimization,” a whistleblower explained. “Every time we ask, there is a new excuse.”

The contempt for staff was crystallized in a remark attributed to a manager identified as **Sharma**, who, when pressed on the duty-free issue, retorted: **“I don’t want lil children driving around.”**

**4. A Culture of Secrecy and Obstruction**
Human Resources, compromised by familial ties, and senior management are accused of operating a wall of silence. Legitimate queries about promotions, travel, and benefits are met with obfuscation and excuses. The environment is one of fear, where questioning the status quo risks professional retaliation.

### **THE STARK CONTRADICTION AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST:**

These allegations, if true, represent the ultimate institutional hypocrisy and a profound breakdown of checks and balances. The situation creates an untenable conflict: **The wife of the Finance Minister holds a senior position in the office that audits her husband’s ministry.** Meanwhile, the Auditor General’s Office is itself accused of the very crimes it is mandated to root out elsewhere: **misappropriation of public funds, conflict of interest, and corruption.**

The watchdog has not just failed to bark; evidence suggests it has been compromised at the highest level and is stealing from its own master.

### **CALL FOR URGENT ACTION:**

The Guyana Anti-Corruption Network, in possession of this evidence, demands immediate, independent, and transparent action from all constitutional bodies:

1. **The Guyana Police Force / Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU):** Must immediately open a criminal investigation into the **theft of public funds** via the ghost employee and the **misuse of public funds** for non-official travel.
2. **The Integrity Commission:** Must invoke its full powers to investigate the conduct of Auditor General Deodat Sharma and Manager Geeta Singh for **gross misconduct, conflict of interest, and breach of public trust.** The Commission must specifically examine the glaring conflict posed by Geeta Singh’s position relative to her husband’s ministry.
3. **The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly:** Must summon the Auditor General and the Minister of Finance to answer these allegations under oath. The PAC cannot in good conscience accept audits from an office whose own integrity—and independence from the executive—is in fundamental question.
4. **The Public Service Commission & The Office of the President:** Must intervene to suspend implicated officials pending investigation and install independent leadership to restore integrity to this critical institution.

The people of Guyana deserve a public audit service that audits, not one that allegedly operates as a private syndicate with direct ties to the very ministries it must fearlessly scrutinize. The silence must end.

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*This report is based on extensive documentation and testimony provided by multiple whistleblowers within the Auditor General’s Office who have chosen to speak out at great personal risk. Their identities are protected.*