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Number of unverified Finance Ministry statements alarming – PAC Chairman
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has finally concluded its examination of the 2010 and 2011 Auditor General
PAC Chairman,
Carl Greenidge
Reports. But it appears as though some ministries still have a problem with effectively addressing certain financial discrepancies.
When asked to give his take on the three problems the Ministry of Finance seems unable to adequately address, PAC Chairman Carl Greenidge said, that firstly, the Ministry of Finance needs to tackle what the Auditors called the “serial abuse of the Contingencies Fund.”
The fund is reserved to address unforeseen circumstances which may warrant urgent expenditures.
Greenidge said that although the Constitution and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act (FMAA) which specifies the criteria governing withdrawals from the fund, the expenditures identified by the Auditor General have not conformed to that law.
The PAC Chairman said that the Finance Secretary, Mr. Nirmal Rekha, seemed unable to clarify why this continues to happen.
A second problem, he said, that had been highlighted by the Auditor General, (AG) Deodat Sharma in his report, has to do with dormant bank accounts. He said that the AG had been recommending year after year that such accounts be closed in keeping with the law.
The politician said, “The accounts had been opened to facilitate and fund legitimate activities and the activities ended in some cases over a decade ago. The balances left in the accounts should have been transferred to the Consolidated Fund and the accounts closed since the funds should not be used for anything other than what had been approved by the National Assembly. Instead of that, the Ministry of Finance technicians reported that the accounts remained open in spite of their recommendations and those of the AG.”
Greenidge said that keeping these accounts open in this manner exposed the country to the risk that the funds would be used either to “temporarily or permanently fund unapproved activities illegally.”
The third matter the Parliamentarian said was discussed by the PAC was the Ministry’s failure to recognize the importance of the Auditor General, Deodat Sharma’s office and the need to secure his clearance on expenditure.
Greenidge told this publication that the number of times the AG reported that he had been unable to give an opinion or to verify that statements emanating from the Ministry were accurate, was “alarming.”
“In effect, the AG was saying that he was qualifying a number of important accounts associated with the agency that was at the pinnacle of financial management of the country.”
He explained that when a report is “qualified” it means that the auditor cannot vouch for the integrity of the financial records before him. The Parliamentarian had cause during the PAC meetings to remind both the Auditor General and the Financial Secretary, that if such qualifications were to be applied to the accounts of a private company, the Board and/or persons responsible would have been penalized and probably sent home.
During its examination of the AG’s reports on the Ministry of Finance, the PAC had highlighted frauds detected in the Accountant General’s Department by the Auditor General for 2010 and 2011, amounting to a total of $215M.
It was also reported that during 2010, a fraud had been committed at the Sub Treasury in Region One (Barima/Waini) which resulted in the loss of $9.393M. This matter is currently before the courts.
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