By Sue-Ann Wayow
IT’S unacceptable that for the period 2016 to 2021, the Community Based Environment and Protection and Enhancement Programme’s (CEPEP) has not submitted any audited financial statements.
The CEPEP board was chastised by Chairman of Public Accounts (Enterprise) Committee (PAC) UNC Senator Wade Mark for their non-submissions on Wednesday during a meeting.
In previous meetings, CEPEP had outlined deadlines for the submissions, deadlines of which have now passed.
Mark said, “This is totally indefensible, it is inexcusable and it is intolerable. I think CEPEP has now gone rogue… You have spent close to $1.5 billion from 2015 to 2021 and you have to spend another close to $300 million or thereabouts in 2022/2023.
“And you are telling this committee and the taxpayers of Trinidad and Tobago and the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago that you have spent $1.5 or close to that and you are in the process of auditing account to 2015 to 2021. “
Mark had asked the reason for the delay in the submission of the statements to which CEPEP’s chief executive officer Keith Eddy responded that in 2015 when the computer system crashed, all financial information obtained was lost.
Eddy said, “The main reasons are there was a server crash somewhere around 2015 and all financial data was lost between 2010 and 2016. It took approximately two and a half years to recover that financial data and then we had to build out the system again.”
He said none of the current members were at CEPEP prior to 2016 and therefore could not verify information from the 2015 financials and the then auditor refused to give them the relevant documents.
“We had no financial information and we did not have the working papers,” Eddy said.
“After we rebuilt the system, it took us another six months beyond the board’s decision in order to bring a new auditor on board. That has since happened and we are in the process of having those audited financial statements from 2015 to current completed.”
