PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC—Finance Minister Colm Imbert Wednesday brushed aside Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar’s call for an investigation into him now that the probe into the Auditor General’s role in the revenue understatement of the public accounts has been discontinued.
In a statement, Imbert said he has “taken note of the latest diatribe” from Persad Bissessar regarding the impasse in 2024 between public officers at the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor General over the 2023 public accounts.
“The Leader of the Opposition…has been a person in public life for almost 30 years now and has held the highest ministerial position in the country, as Prime Minister, from 2010 to 2015.
“She must, therefore, have a proper understanding of the process that leads to the submission by the public servants in the Treasury of the annual public accounts to the Auditor General, and she, therefore, knows better than to spread malicious gossip about this process.”
Imbert said she is well aware that the preparation of the annual public accounts and submission of these accounts to the Auditor General were delegated to the public officers in the Treasury many decades ago.
“She is also well aware that the Minister of Finance has no role in preparing or submitting these accounts and is not featured in the audit documents. A cursory examination of the public accounts for the last 40+ years would reveal that” Imbert said.
The incident occurred with the fiscal 2023 public accounts. It was initially reported as an understated government revenue figure of TT$3.4 billion (One TT dollar = US$0.16 cent) but was later revised to TT$2.6 billion. The Auditor General, Jaiwantie Ramdass, refused to accept the amended accounts, arguing that her audit of the original submission was complete.
The government launched an investigation, but it was discontinued on February 28 following a ruling by the London-based Privy Council, the country’s highest court, and the completion of an independent inquiry.
But in a statement, Persad Bissessar said the government’s “defeat” will “forever remain a blot on our democracy.
“Imbert’s attempts to intimidate, harass, and bully Auditor General Jaiwantie Ramdass backfired spectacularly when Ms Ramdass decided to stand up and defend herself and the Constitution from the government’s unwarranted political attack.”
She said the Privy Council hearing was dramatic, and British law lords grilled the government’s lawyers.
“(This) should never have been the subject of investigation by the government because she did absolutely nothing wrong…(It was) nothing but a calculated assault on her independent office to try to get her to bow to his demands and dictates in his usual arrogant manner,” Persad Bissessar said.
She has since called for an investigation into Imbert’s conduct and demanded that he answer where the missing money has gone.
“The half-baked investigative report the government says it received was a ridiculous waste of taxpayers’ money. As noted by the Privy Council, Mr Imbert drafted the terms of reference, handpicked the investigators, and ordered them to report to him. In circumstances where Mr Imbert’s conduct and integrity have been questioned, this reeks of bias and political smart-manism. It’s a classic case of playing smart with foolishness!”
In his statement, Imbert outlined the procedure used to produce the Auditor General’s report, adding, “These financial statements, none of which are prepared by the Minister of Finance, are required to be accompanied by a Statement of Declaration and Certification.
“This Statement of Declaration and Certification is signed by the three officials in the Ministry of Finance who are responsible for the preparation and submission to the Auditor General of the financial statements for the year in question, namely the Accounting Officer, who is the Permanent Secretary, the Comptroller of Accounts and the Treasury Director.
Imbert said that to avoid doubt,” the Minister of Finance is not required to, and does not, prepare, review, sign, submit or certify the financial statements or the Statement of Declaration and Certification in the public accounts.
“The Minister of Finance, therefore, cannot be seriously accused by any right-thinking person of being responsible for any “missing money” in the financial statements, especially since there is no missing money. That story is an orchestrated campaign being mounted by the Opposition to fool the gullible.”
Imbert said it is “now well established that an unfortunate accounting error was made by officials at the Central Bank on February 8, 2023, due to a failure of software associated with a new electronic cheque clearing system introduced by the Central Bank in 2023.
“This error found its way into the public accounts when submitted to the Auditor General in January 2024. Again, to avoid doubt, the Auditor General’s office did not discover this accounting error.
“Instead, it was discovered by personnel in the Budget Division doing their usual year-end review of the fiscal outturn for 2023 after the accounts were submitted to the Auditor General. Following this discovery, the public servants in the Treasury subsequently attempted to bring the accounting error to the attention of the Auditor General,” Imbert said.
In his lengthy statement, Imbert said, “It must be underscored that the Treasury has reported that all revenue collected in the financial year 2023 has since been accounted for.
“Regarding the call by the Leader of the Opposition for the Minister of Finance to be “investigated” and “made to answer where the missing money has gone,” that is an outrageous and deceitful fabrication which is part of the UNC’s (United National Congress) propaganda campaign for the 2025 General Election,” Imbert added.
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