The Permanent Secretary’s Utility Bill – And the Audit Office Caught in Its Own Corruption Web
Dateline: GEORGETOWN, GUYANA
A routine audit by a newly appointed team has uncovered a stunning web of state waste—and possible corruption—within the Ministry of Education (MOE). Since the new team of auditors uncovered that millions are being paid for electricity and telephone charges for the father of Permanent Secretary Shannielle Hoosein-Outar, the ministry has been thrown into crisis. Her father’s name and address have not been revealed at this time.
When questioned, the MOE staff are fearful since the payments have been going on for years. Multiple sources confirm that the entire accounts staff of the Ministry of Education is terrified of losing their jobs. “We are all walking on eggshells,” one staff member whispered. “If you speak up, you are gone. If you don’t, you are complicit. Either way, your livelihood is on the line.”
Moreover, this went unseen under Director Mrs. Geetanjalie Singh-Gopaul. Also, the activity was executed in recent years by Mr. Imtiaz Ali and Mr. Hemraj Singh – the nephew of a sitting government minister and of Geetanjali Singh. Both Mr. Imtiaz and Mr. Singh are part of the “elite team” as they name it. So let’s conclude this went unseen and unquestioned under her watch.
The Audit Office – A Nexus of Corruption
But the rot may run far deeper than the Ministry of Education. A parallel investigation by the Guyana Anti-Corruption Network, published on February 10, 2026, has revealed that the Auditor General’s Office itself—the very institution mandated to catch such fraud—has become a nexus of nepotism, ghost employment, and systemic corruption.
According to that explosive report, Auditor General Deodat Sharma placed his own son on the public payroll for over three years—from 2019 to 2023—without a single day of work performed. The salary paid for those years has never been refunded. “He is the head of the office; he authorized those payments,” a senior audit staffer told investigators. “This isn’t an oversight; it is theft.”
Further, Sharma’s adopted daughter, Sushmita Singh, works as a clerk but routinely accompanies him on all-expenses-paid overseas “work” trips to destinations like Jamaica and Barbados. Another daughter works in the office’s Human Resources department, ensuring internal complaints go nowhere.
A Staggering Conflict of Interest
Senior Manager Geeta Singh—wife of sitting Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh—has installed multiple relatives within the department, including her sister Mona Singh (reinstated at managerial level with no break in service) and two nephews. One of those nephews is Hemraj Singh—the same Hemraj Singh named in the Ministry of Education utility payment scheme.
The conflict is staggering: the wife of the Finance Minister holds a senior position in the office that audits her husband’s ministry. “The watchdog has not just failed to bark,” the report concluded. “Evidence suggests it has been compromised at the highest level and is stealing from its own master.”
Into this toxic environment steps Mr. Dhanraj Persaud, a competent and meticulous professional working at the Audit Office. Sources say Persaud has been flagging irregularities for months— probably including the questionable payments flowing to the Permanent Secretary’s father. But instead of being commended, Persaud is now being actively pressured by the Auditor General himself.
“Deodat Sharma is leaning on Persaud daily,” one whistleblower inside the Audit Office revealed. “He is being threatened with transfer, demotion, and even termination. They call him a troublemaker. The real problem is that he does his job too well. He is being targeted specifically because of his proficiency.”
Colleagues say Persaud has been sidelined from key audits, denied standard duty-free concessions for nearly two years, and subjected to a campaign of intimidation. When staff asked about the duty-free delays, a manager identified only as “Sharma” reportedly retorted: “I don’t want lil children driving around.”
“This is pure victimization,” another audit staffer said. “Every time we ask questions, there is a new excuse. And now Persaud, one of our best, is being crushed because he dared to follow the paper trail.”
An Appeal to the International Community
With domestic accountability mechanisms apparently compromised, anti-corruption advocates and civil society groups are now appealing directly to Guyana’s international partners. The United Nations, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), the Inter-American Development Bank, and the international donor community are being urged to intervene.
“We have reached a point where the institutions meant to protect public funds are themselves the perpetrators,” said a spokesperson for the Guyana Anti-Corruption Network. “The Auditor General is accused of ghost employment and nepotism. His senior manager is the wife of the Finance Minister. And now a competent auditor, Mr. Dhanraj Persaud, is being systematically destroyed by the Auditor General simply for doing his job. There is no domestic recourse left.”
Specific appeals include:
· The Commonwealth Secretariat to invoke its good offices to assess the collapse of Guyana’s public financial accountability mechanisms.
· CARICOM to send an independent audit oversight mission to examine both the Ministry of Education payments and the Auditor General’s Office.
· International financial institutions to condition further lending on the restoration of an independent, functional Auditor General’s office free from nepotism and political entanglement.
· The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to assist with a forensic investigation into the millions paid for the Permanent Secretary’s father’s utility bills, as well as the ghost employment scheme within the Audit Office.
· Human rights and anti-corruption bodies to demand immediate protection for whistleblower Dhanraj Persaud, whose life and livelihood are now at risk.
“The people of Guyana cannot rely on captured institutions,” the activist continued. “We are asking the international community to look closely at what is happening here. An Auditor General who steals from the state while crushing the honest auditors beneath him—and a Permanent Secretary whose father’s bills are paid by taxpayers—this is not a minor scandal. This is systemic collapse. The world must not look away.”
The Ministry of Education has yet to issue a formal statement. The Auditor General’s Office did not respond to requests for comment. But with each passing day, sources say, Mr. Persaud faces increasing pressure to resign—or worse.
As one whistleblower put it: “If the Auditor General is stealing from the state while his senior manager’s family is running a parallel scheme at Education—and the one honest man, Persaud, is being punished for his proficiency—then what hope is there for any taxpayer dollar in this country? Only international pressure can break this cycle now.”
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