Strict measures must be taken to end racing
DEAR EDITOR,
The Auditor General has reported countless cases of total negligence or total lack of accountability in state expenditure.
Fraud is marginalized especially when there are no receipts to support expenditure or the names of shops where goods have been purchased. Those of us who study economics call it theft or fraud. I will also add ‘racketeering’. The culprits must be prosecuted.
As the auditor’s reports reveal, what economists described as stealing money was evident from the exchequer through all sorts of skulls, gimmicks, and making a belief work to fill pockets. Who?
We don’t know. But the theft involved government officials and cronies receiving money under false pretense – contracts or state land being given to partners with kickbacks government officials. Some call it “crony capitalism”.
I call it “racing”, which is a crime in the USA and other democratic countries. But in economics, racing is mainly associated with labor financial fraud and other illegal acts within unions.
In Guyana, there are no known or reported cases of individuals being held for racing, not in unions although there is also a lack of accountability in unions.
Theft of government funds and fraudulent acquisition and distribution of land is more than defined under “crony capitalism” or cronyism. In Guyana, such fraudulent business activities by (former or former) government and their private sector partners require a new term that I am fragmenting as “racing economics” or “crony economics”.
I am not referring to trade union or mafia racing, a type of crime studied in sociology by criminals. The economics of racing are related to government officials rather than trade union bosses. It is an organized criminal enterprise with political officials and their partners in private business; and labor leaders are unlikely to have a role in it, although some union leaders protect those involved in such financial crimes.
The economics of racing is a structured, criminal enterprise of business activities by officials engaged in fraudulent and illegal fraudulent economic activities to defraud the state. These government officials use state funds for personal gain (just to be clear and not to blame all government officials, only a handful of officials under the previous government and their private sector partners and it was about racing; they know who they are, and they are rude).
The economics of racing is when government officials engage in institutional fraudulent business deals, enriching themselves or business partners by piloting state funds.
It is an act of self-enrichment through illegally derived income – acquiring government funds in contracts or land deals through make-believe projects; huge sums of money are being distributed to partners with the consequent obstacles.
It included tens of billions of dollars each year, not accounted for in non-existent activities or projects or payments for goods or services that were never delivered or performed or overvalued. The contractor got free money and officials get a nice cut. Unfortunately, some prominent business people in legitimate organizations were involved.
Unfortunately, the proverbial government sanctified such illegal acts and authorized charges in the knowledge that they were not performed and thus created the term “racing economics”.
The unlawful acts included direct and indirect theft of state cash and land, drug trafficking, fraud, robbery, money laundering, forgery, extortion, theft, bribery, blocking investigation, obstruction of justice, ignoring authorized audits, among others.
Racing activities have devastating consequences for the Guyana economy as a whole, in public and private organizations and businesses.
Strict measures must be taken to end racing. Those big fish involved in racetrack should be made into demonstration effects to discourage government theft and land. Auditor General Deodat Sharma must refer his findings to the police for investigation and prosecution.
Truly,
Vishnu Bisram Dr.