'No money missing'

Ancil Dennis, assistant secretary, Office of the Chief Secretary, Tobago House of Assembly (THA), says there is nothing in the auditor general's report, at least up to 2016, to suggest People's National Movement (PNM) politicians are stealing money from the assembly.

He was responding to Progressive Democratic Patriots leader Watson Duke's call for a forensic audit of the THA.

Speaking on Wednesday at the PNM's monthly news conference in Scarborough, Dennis made it clear the assembly is being audited by the Auditor General's Department.

"I want to bring the facts at this point in time because while some may call for forensic audits, the laws of this country dictates that all public bodies must be audited by the auditor general and the facts are that the auditor general has the responsibility to audit the THA and that has been ongoing for a number of years," he said.

However, Dennis said the process is being hampered by a lack of resources in the department, which has resulted in a backlog.

He added the last audited report of the THA was laid in the Parliament more than a decade ago, in 2008, but 2009 was recently completed.

He said a decision was later taken to fast-track the process to 2016.

"So, of course the financial records (of the THA) for 2016 are being audited at this point in time."

The representative for Buccoo/Mt Pleasant said the THA did not contribute to the backlog.

"I want to put on record that the backlog or the fact that we are in this position is no fault of the Tobago House of Assembly, and it is especially no fault of any politician occupying a seat at this point in time in the leadership of Tobago.

"It has to do with the auditor general's office lacking the necessary resources and manpower to conduct these audits in a timely fashion."

Dennis said according to the auditor general's reports on the operations of the THA thus far, concerns were never raised about wrongdoing on the part of any office-holder.

"The records will show that in most of the cases where the auditor general had issues, it was related to a lack of records being available, a lack of proper accounting procedures being followed. It had nothing to do with monies missing or the fault of any politician for any money missing from the Tobago House of Assembly."

Dennis said the issues highlighted in the report had to do with administrative issues and unavailability of records, "which may point to some issues with our filing system and, of course, persons within the public service who have the responsibility not adhering to certain systems and procedures."

He added: "So I just want to place on the record that there is nothing in the auditor general's report which suggests that there is corruption or that members of the People's National Movement, politicians in particular are stealing money from the Tobago House of Assembly."

Dennis said while people may wonder if there is corruption within the system, "I will be the first to admit that even from within the very low levels of the public service, you are going to have issues of persons doing nefarious things for their own personal benefit.

"But I am saying the policy and philosophy of the PNM, even in the Tobago context, has been to treat with these things expeditiously by reporting matters of allegations of corruption to the relevant authorities so that they can investigate independent of the political directorate and, therefore, take the necessary actions to bring persons before the courts, as has happened in the Tobago space, and we are now seeing it in a national context, where even politicians and former politicians are being dragged before the courts."