In light of news reports on several issues flagged in the Auditor General’s [AG] 2022 Report, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday said that Finance Minister Dr. Ashni Singh will pursue corrective actions, if needed.
Jagdeo was speaking in his capacity as General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) when he made this disclosure at a press conference held at Freedom House, on Thursday. “I spoke with the Minister of Finance and he assured (me) that he is going to personally take corrective action against any adverse finding,” Jagdeo told reporters.
According to him, the AG’s report is used by government to ensure that there is effective financial management and that the finance minister could engage accounting officers on any questionable transactions, and if issues persist or cannot be justified, those officers can be sanctioned. Asked by this newspaper to expound on the “corrective actions”, likely to be taken by the finance minister, Jagdeo said that, for example, if the Auditor General report had outlined a few financial discrepancies under the tenure of a Regional Executive Officer (REO) and he or she cannot account for the anomalies unearthed, then disciplinary actions could be taken against the individual. If the matter is deeply outrageous, then law enforcement [police] can likely be involved, he noted.