(Trinidad Guardian) Government and Auditor General Jaiwantie Ramdass appear to be at loggerheads over an error detected in T&T’s 2023 revenue data.
A Government motion to extend the time to present information to the Auditor General was passed in Parliament on Friday night, after Ramdass allegedly refused to accept information seeking to correct a $2.6 billion understatement of T&T’s revenue for 2023.
The situation – where numerous approaches by Finance Ministry and Treasury officials to the Auditor General were rejected – was described in Parliament by Attorney General Reginald Armour as, “… a very bizarre situation arising from the fact that the Auditor General has refused in flagrant contravention of her statutory and constitutional responsibility under the Constitution and Exchequer Act to accept the correct material from the Finance Ministry’s Treasury Division as part of her audit”.
Government, at one point, sent the Auditor General a pre-action protocol letter but that also failed and the Auditor General published T&T’s accounts for 2023 minus the corrected figures – prompting Government’s motion.
The issue has now spotlighted recently appointed Ramdass.
The motion was passed at 8.45 pm by 19 Government votes to 14 Opposition votes.
The motion, in Finance Minister Colm Imbert’s name, stated that it was necessary, in respect of the financial accounts for 2023, that the period of time specified under Sections 24 and 25 of the Audit and Exchequer Act (69:01) be extended. These pertain to the periods when the Treasury must send the Auditor General accounts.
Debate arose after the Auditor General’s 2023 reports on T&T’s accounts were listed on yesterday’s Parliament agenda for presentation by Imbert. When the item was called for presentation, Imbert didn’t present the reports.
Instead, he delivered a statement which noted – as the motion stated – that the timelines for the submission of accounts by the Treasury and the preparation of the report of the Auditor General could be extended, if necessary, with Parliament’s approval.
Imbert said the task of preparing T&T’s public accounts is a mammoth exercise involving hundreds of public servants.
“There’s the possibility that errors may be made along the way and further time may be needed to correct these errors.”
He added that for the financial year 2023, an extension of time “has been determined by the various public officials involved” to be required at this time.
$2.6B revenue variance error
Imbert said the required report from the Treasury was submitted to the Auditor General in January 2024. But the root cause for the motion was the detection by senior public servants that the statement of revenue which was submitted to the Auditor General contained a significant variance – the revenue for 2023 was understated by $2.6B.
“And the fiscal outurn for 2023 was better than I reported in the 2023 Budget exercise,” Imbert said.
He said the error resulted from a new electronic cheque clearing system which was not implemented properly by all concerned.
Imbert said public servants came to him in embarrassment, as they felt it would be improper for revenue to be understated by $2.6B.
“They had the courage to report to me they made a significant material error in recording the revenue for 2023 … they spent day and night trying to reconcile the error, I respect them for bringing it to my attention,” he added.
He said legal advice was that the time had not passed for submission of errata indicating to the Auditor General that there were errors in the figures.
After failed bids to communicate with the Auditor General and the pre-action protocol letter to her, Imbert said her April 15 reply stated that the Finance Ministry was free to submit a letter by noon on April 16 recalling the public accounts submitted in January, confirming the declaration previously provided was inaccurate and providing the revised public accounts.
He said the Comptroller of Accounts submitted the information on time.
“Nobody anticipated the 2023 reports would then be published without the revised accounts. It was only two days ago we learned the audited accounts were prepared without the corrected information that was given to her,” he said.
Imbert said the public might describe the Auditor General’s action as bizarre, as the public servants “… discovered a big error, tried to inform the Auditor General and the Auditor General decided not to be informed”.
AG slams Auditor General’s conduct
Armour said the error was discovered in February and Treasury, Inland Revenue and Budget Division officials did investigations. He maintained the accounts were submitted on time and later corrected.
However, Armour said, “Treasury officials seeking to go to the Auditor General’s Office with the corrected information were denied entry!
“So alarming was the conduct of the office holder of this high constitutional office that the Finance Minister came to me for advice, which I gave, including by providing two eminent counsel whose advice led to a six-page pre-action protocol letter being delivered to the Auditor General on April 15.”
Noting the officials’ failed approaches to communicate with the Auditor General, Armour added, “It was nothing short of bizarre!”
The letter to the Auditor General reportedly cautioned her about the grave implications that would befall T&T’s economy if she published a report based on erroneous information.
Armour said the Auditor General’s reply quoted the section of the Constitution which states that the Auditor General shall not be subject to direction/control of any other person or authority. However, he said she relied on that section wrongly.
Armour said it was remarkable that in 2024 in T&T, an evolved democracy, there could be “this kind of conduct from a senior high constitutional office holder”.
Armour slammed the situation in T&T in which officeholders don’t understand what the separation of powers means, since it didn’t mean that one high office isn’t allowed to speak to another branch.
The Act and the motion
Section 24 of the Audit and Exchequer Act mandates that within a period of four months after September 30th in each year, the Treasury shall transmit to the Auditor General, accounts showing fully T&T’s financial position at December 31. The Auditor General shall have these examined and audited within seven months after September 30th in each year.
Section 25 (1) allows that the period provided for the transmission of the financial accounts by the Treasury to the Auditor General may be extended to a longer period, as Parliament may, via resolution, appoint. It similarly provides that the period for the examination/auditing of the accounts may be extended.
The motion called for the period of time under Section 24 to be extended from four months after September 30th, 2023, to eight months after September 30th, 2023. It also called for the period of time under section 25(1) to be extended from seven months after September 30th, 2023, to eleven months after September 30th, 2023.
Ministry’s failed outreach to Auditor General
Finance’s Permanent Secretary received no response to their March 27 letter.
* The PS sent e-mailed correspondence on March 28, also on April 5 and April 8.
* The Comptroller of Accounts sent an April 8 email with a compact disc with the corrected information.
* On April 9 further attempts were made by the Finance Ministry to approach the Auditor General. Calls went unanswered.
* Officers who went to the Auditor General’s Office were told there was no one there to receive the compact disc and to return on April 11.
* On April 11, the assistant Auditor General told the officers he was instructed by the Auditor General to accept only the compact disc with the original public accounts but not the one with the amended public accounts.
* At the Auditor General’s request, the three officers met the department’s senior legal officer, who later also said she couldn’t accept the amended public accounts disc.
