FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert says Auditor General Jaiwantee Ramdass is causing “unnecessary public confusion.”
Speaking in the Lower House on Monday, Imbert said the government disagrees with the contents of the new Special Report of the Auditor General.
He said, “In conclusion, it is the government’s view that the Special Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts for the Financial Year 2023, only adds fuel to the fire, creates more unnecessary public confusion, and does not satisfactorily address the core issue that arose with the auditor general’s original report on the 2023 accounts which is a $2.6 billion discrepancy in revenue, and which in our view has been comprehensively cleared up. Thank you.”
The matter stems from the Auditor General’s Annual Report where she noted $2.6 billion were missing.
Imbert said he hoped the auditor general could meet with the Central Bank to discuss the issues that caused the problem in the first place. She is yet to do so.
He said, “I am advised that to date, while it has received an outline of the scope of the proposed examination from a subordinate in the Auditor General’s Department, the bank has not received any correspondence from the auditor general delegating authority to her staff to act on her behalf on this matter,”
Imbert said, “Nor has it received a proposed time or date for the earlier requested meeting between the Auditor General and the Governor.”
He hopes that a meeting between the Central Bank Governor and the Auditor General can put much of the tensions to rest.
