GOVERNMENT RELEASES MINISTERIAL AUDITS

UNCLAS CONAKRY 000087 SIPDIS DEPT PLEASE PASS TO USTR FOR LAURIE ANN AGAMA COMMERCE FOR SALIHA LOUCIF SIPDIS E.O. 12598: N/A TAGS: ECIN EFIN ECON EMIN PGOV GV SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT RELEASES MINISTERIAL AUDITS REFTEL: CONAKRY 00182 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On April 7, the Guinean Government finally released the audits requested by Prime Minister Kouyate last year to address alleged corruption. While the overall total amount lost, 45 million USD, has been known for some time (REFTEL),the release allows a closer inspection of each ministry. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) On march 31, the Ministry of Economic and Financial Control, Ethics, and Transparence released selected ministerial audits of the Government of Guinea (GoG). The period covered by the audits is 1 January 2006 to 30 June 2007. According to the Ministry of Economic and Financial Control, future audits will stay on the same time track. ¶3. (SBU) The audits of the following ministries were released: the Ministry of Mines, the Secretary General of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Fishing, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Health, and Ministry of Communication. According to the Secretary General of the Ministry of Economic and Financial Control, Dr. Camara, the audits of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Public Works are not ready and have not been released. The military was not audited, nor was the Presidency. (REFTEL). ¶4. (SBU) The audits identify general areas, sometimes departments, sometimes sub-departments, within each audited ministry. They identify the total amounts of losses due to embezzlement, property unaccounted for, or just spending for which there is no justification available. At the end of each ministry section, the audit makes recommendations to rectify the problems identified. ¶5. (SBU) The recommendations run from "recover the amounts embezzled" to "reform the mechanism to issue fishing licenses." No individual names of those believed to be responsible for the losses are mentioned in the audits. ¶6. (SBU) COMMENT. The audits were supposed to be released all together, but the government has been under pressure from various sectors to publish the results. The missing ministries are critical in that they have large budgets and officials have plenty of opportunity for significant graft. Although the reports do not name specific individuals, they do break down ministries by various departments and areas of responsibility. The longest report in the audit is on the Ministry of Fishing. The current Minister of Fishing, Mohamed Youla, has been a government bureaucrat long-suspected of being corrupt. (NOTE: For example, in 2005, the media reported that someone stole Five Hundred Thousand Euros out of a spare tire on Youla's car. END NOTE.) He was shuffled from his position as the National Director of the Budget at the Ministry of Finance to the Minister of Fishing when Kouyate named his consensus government. The local press is emphasizing that the audits prove the extent of corruption in the Government. Embassy will be looking at the audits more closely and provide further analysis as appropriate. END COMMENT. CARTER