Latest update February 11th, 2025 2:15 PM
Jun 02, 2010 News
… Auditor General powerless to invoke punitive measures
“Forty audits were finalized for the period under review. Many of these entities are however, significantly in arrears in terms of financial reporting.”
Those were the comments that prefaced the Auditor General’s findings on the Audits of a number of Statutory Bodies in his 2008 report. Of those 40 audits, the report only highlighted 12 agencies whose last audits had been over five years ago.
One such agency is the Sugar Industry and Labour Welfare Fund which has been making the news for years as a result of efforts at providing affordable housing, especially for workers in the sugar industry. There are, however, inconsistencies in the management of the fund. Among these would be the fact that the monies in the fund are being and have been spent for a number of years with absolutely no oversight.
The Auditor General’s 2008 Report also points out that as at the end of 2008, the Sugar Industry Welfare Labour, Rehabilitation and Price Stabilization Funds had a balance of $1.388B on their accounts. These funds are supplied at the expense of the country’s sugar production. Every single ton of sugar that is exported carries on it a levy.
According to the fund allotments designated in the Sugar Industry Special Funds Act, more than 97 per cent of that levy goes to the Sugar Industry and Labour Welfare Fund. Yet this fund, according to the 2008 Auditor General’s Report, was last audited in 1997.
When the Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, was contacted for a comment on the matter he said that there was nothing that he or his officers could do.
According to Sharma, “If they (Government Agencies) do not submit their records then we have nothing to audit”. When asked if there were any punitive measures in place for those entities who have not submitted their records he pointed out that to his knowledge, there were none currently being enforced.
He also added that the job of creating and enforcing punitive measures against these offenders does not lie with the Auditor General but with the Ministry of Finance. He went on to say that the issue of enforcing audit regulations and ensuring records are submitted currently falls to the lot of the Finance Secretary.
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