After threatening to seek criminal charges if information pertaining to City Hall financial documents are withheld from the Auditor General’s office, the City Council is now cooperating in this regard.
This was made obvious on Monday during the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC’s) considerations of the Audit Officer’s 2016 report.
PAC Chairman, Irfaan Ali revealed to the chambers that some of the documents that Auditor General (AG), Deodat Sharma was originally unable to get, including cash vouchers, had been handed over.
Ali further informed that the Auditor General has requested two months to comprehensively review the new information so as to be able to ascertain if the vouchers presented accounted for the $173.5M which City Hall received from Government in 2016.
The information was provided by City Hall Treasurer, Ron McAlmont, who appeared before the committee after being absent during the last PAC session, due to a “doctor’s appointment”.
However, the matter did not die away as PAC Member, Juan Edgehill expressed unwillingness to let City Hall off the hook without scrutiny.
He demanded that the Treasurer state why the information was not disclosed in the initial stages.
Under questioning, McAlmont resolutely refused to provide a detailed explanation for the delay in handing over information to the Auditors.
Asked directly whether he ever had possession of the documents, the Treasurer related that while the documents were always at City Hall, they were difficult to retrieve.
It is now expected that the PAC will wait for the AG to report on the documents he has received.
At the last session, Sharma had disclosed that another forensic audit will be carried out at City Hall, and this time around, approaches will be made to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) if City Hall failed to account for its finances.
Sharma became frustrated after the Accounting Officer, who was acting in place of the absent Treasurer of the Georgetown Municipality, was unable to provide the necessary answers with regards to City Hall’s finances.
Moreover, even the Permanent Secretary (PS) attached to the Ministry of Communities, Emil McGarrel complained of City Hall’s lack of cooperation.
From the start, City Hall’s financial status, how it spent almost $175 million and its failure to submit documentation dating from 2005 posed a challenge to the PAC.
Last year, the AG’s attempts to conduct an audit were stymied by documents not being provided. According to Sharma at the time, there were a number of gaps that remained unfilled in the investigation.
He had noted that as a result of these missing and sometimes even damaged documents, there would be a number of pages in the final report that would carry disclaimers.
It was at one time reported that during the final phase of the audit, the probe was stalled due to this lack of cooperation. Things had reportedly reached a point necessitating a letter to be sent to Town Clerk Royston King, over the undue delays being caused by City Hall officials not making the necessary documents available for the auditors.
Over the years, there have been persistent calls for City Hall to be fully audited.
