Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC is calling for accountability following the discovery of billions in unaccounted-for expenditure outlined in the Auditor General’s report for fiscal year 2024.
She said the findings raise questions about the management of public funds by the previous government.
The report was laid in Parliament on Friday.
During her statement in the House of Representatives, the Prime Minister said the Auditor General’s report for fiscal 2024 has revealed what she describes as damning irregularities. She said those responsible must be held to account.
“On behalf of all the citizens of Trinidad, of everybody, of T&T, we demand a public apology from the former Minister of Finance.”
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said a critical finding of the report – for the second consecutive year – was the fact that the Auditor General declined to express an opinion on the public accounts, issuing a disclaimer.
“The Auditor General continues, ‘I have not been able to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to provide a basis for an audit opinion on the public accounts of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.’ What a shameful state of affairs. Shameful state of affairs. Those words are found at page nine of the report on which I shared with you, the 2024 Audit Report. What this means, then, is that the Auditor General could not verify, validate, or approve the accounts of the government for two consecutive years.”
The report attributes this to restricted access to key financial systems, including the Central Bank’s electronic cheque clearing and Go Anywhere platform, resulting in over $2.3 billion unaccounted for and $1.5 billion in expenditures not verified.
“What did you have to hide? Why did you restrict the Auditor General from doing her job? What was the cover-up? We still don’t know where the $2.3 billion from the previous year went. We still don’t know, and this is not your money; this was taxpayers’ money, the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Approval by the Central Bank to conduct the examination was not given; hence, the examination was not conducted.”
The Prime Minister noted that the Auditor-General also flagged massive rental expenses with little or no documentation.
“Rent paid for properties leased by the government of T&T for the financial year was $493,209,274.63. We are talking here almost $5 billion.”
The Prime Minister said an unexplained variance of over $208 million was detected between reported rental payments and official records.
“Some properties rented by government and for which rent was paid by Ministries and departments were not shown on the master list. This raised concerns of the accuracy and completeness of the master list.”
Several government-occupied properties were highlighted, including the building occupied by the Ministry of Public Utilities at Number One Alexandra Street, Port of Spain. Mrs. Persad-Bissessar said some of the rentals lack active leases or Cabinet approval.
The Prime Minister also called for further investigation into the accounting discrepancies, warning that failure to act could erode public trust in the nation’s financial institutions.