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Faulty accounting measures continue despite yearly recommendations
Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, was keen not to release any details of his most recent audit report handed over to the Speaker of the National Assembly. He said that until that document is laid in the House, it is not public.
However, Sharma expressed a general concern that many of the issues that he was at pains to highlight in previous years, continue to be repeated.
There continues to inadequate accounting. Many of the recommendations that Sharma and his team made in previous years have not been implemented. Further, Sharma’s work was even impeded on some occasions where he requested information that was not readily available.
“If you check all my reports you will see the vouchers sometimes not being presented, cheque orders not being presented and so on…This sort of thing has become very common.”
Auditor General, Deodat Sharma
Sharma was referring to his audit of the nation’s spending for 2016. However, he had similar concerns about auditing the Durban Park Project. Sharma said that he is finding it hard to get documents to verify the spending on that project.
While documentation is available for the period that Ministry of Public Infrastructure handled the project, Sharma is struggling to get documentation from the period when Homestretch Development Inc. was in charge.
Missing documents is something that some of the forensic auditors also complained about. (Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell)
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The matters raised by the Auditor General, Mr Deodat Sharma, would appear to suggest an element of corruption for the lack of cooperation in ensuring information is provided for a proper auditing of the nation’s accounts for 2016. My suggestion about corruption is based on what is set out in this article:
(a) “…a general concern that many of the issues that he was at pains to highlight in previous years, continue to be repeated.”
(b) “There continues to [be] inadequate accounting.”
(c) “Sharma’s work was even impeded on some occasions where he requested information…”.
(d) Sharma’s words: “If you check all my reports you will see the vouchers sometimes not being presented, cheque orders not being presented and so on…This sort of thing has become very common.”
(e) Sharma “had similar concerns about auditing the Durban Park Project. Sharma
said that he is finding it hard to get documents to verify the spending
on that project.”
The article does not refer to corruption but based on the above extracts it is reasonable to conclude the presence of corruption unless all relevant information requested by the Auditor General is provided and proves to be above board. In addition to what is highlighted in this article, the media from time to time has referred to the present regime’s wrongdoing in respect of different matters which I’ll no go into.
During the 2015 election campaign, the then opposition parties accused the PPP/C regime of a great deal of corruption but the new government which is now halfway through its term has not yet proved conclusively that there was such a large scale corruption as alleged. I am not saying that there was no corruption by the previous regime. In fact very rarely a government can claim to be free of corruption. Over several years the Singapore government claimed to be corruption-free. I did not agree with such a claim as all government contracts in the early years were handled by a law firm established by the first prime minister and was headed by his wife. Some time later the minister of national development was accused of corruption in favouring certain private developments by allegedly taking bribes. The said prime minister told him “why don’t you kill yourself?” A few days later that minister committed suicide as reported in the news.