Fair warning has been issued by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to all State enterprises and private business owners to get their finances in order.
She is urging them to utilise an amnesty, to be implemented by the government, to do the right thing.
The government is against what they call, the ‘financially irresponsible practices’ by state enterprises.
Speaking at Thursday’s post cabinet press conference, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said the government will not continue to act like an open bank vault by dumping money into state enterprises that do not submit proper accounting.
She said, the government is willing to implement a temporary amnesty period for them to get up to date.
“I believe CEPEP did not file for a five year period and they still received about a half a billion dollars… I also believe CAL has not filed since 2015, so your new board will soon call on the CEO to account. I am giving the management of all state enterprises fair warning that they have to get their houses in order and have their statements of accounts updated and filed when due.”
She revealed that municipal corporations, led by both sides of the political divide, are also guilty of not providing proper financial statements for auditing.
“The biggest amongst them are Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo 15 years, Diego Martin 15 years, Tunapuna 12 Years, Point Fortin 10 years, no accounts…Princess Town Corporation has been the exception they only have one year outstanding.”
She also noted that private companies have been struck off the registry for not filing taxes. However, the amnesty will also allow them the opportunity to rectify their outstanding accounts.