Motion continues as CM highlights "inaccuracies & omissions" in Principal Auditor's Report

The Chief Minister continued with his motion, giving his side of the Principal Auditor’s report in Parliament, wanting, he said, to correct inaccuracies on the record.

Speaking of individuals who were identifiable in the report, he described this as the worst possible party political witch hunt.

Fabian Picardo set out what he said were inaccuracies and omissions in the report which he said amount to an attempt to mislead the House- adding he would make an amendment to reflect this.  The Principal Auditor, he claimed, had wanted to draw political blood.

Highlighting the section dealing with the Government’s Media Director, he said it was false to have implied he had not been due a gratuity on termination.  The contract, he said had a 25% gratuity provision per year of service.  A practice stopped by the GSLP/Liberals but included in his renewed contract- renewed from the GSD, who’d employed him. 

Fabian Picardo claimed the Media Director taken less than he’d been entitled to in overtime, as he had worked long hours over 15 years and never claimed any.

This he, told the House, had been a money for value payment.

On the Principal Auditor’s assertion that he had received no reply from Number Six, the Chief Minister said that not only had he been copied into the termination letter, but there had been an exchange of e-mails, even though there had been no substantive reply by the time the Principal Auditor retired.

The Chief Minister criticised the fact that the Principal Auditor had not given the individual or the Government a chance to explain or had been told there would be adverse findings against them.  He described this as a jaundiced, partial, legally flawed way of reporting.

The Chief Minister then moved onto procurement procedures saying the four contracts highlighted by the Principal Auditor had been a small fraction of 270 public tenders and 214 open awards.  These, he said, were statistics of a government that embraces open competition.  The four tenders in question, he added were handled transparently, lawfully and in accordance with the relevant legal framework.  He went through each tender individually, claiming the report provided no context and overlooked the realities of public service delivery.

The report’s conclusions he said, were unsustainable when tested against the law and facts. He added that across, all four cases, the report appears to have overlooked or downplayed the legal justifications and evidence that were provided to the Auditor during the audit process.

The Chief Minister will be moving an amendment on this too.