Auditor General: $1.2b paid 'late' into Heritage Fund

AUDITOR General Jaiwantie Ramdass has expressed her concern at the alleged late payment of a US$182 million or $1.2 billion deposit into the Heritage and Stabilisation Fund (HSF).

Her comments are contained in the Report of the Auditor General on the HSF for 2023, recently laid in Parliament and sent to reporters on April 12.

She cited the Heritage and Stabilisation Act (section 13), which says when Trinidad and Tobago's actual petroleum revenues exceed the predicted revenues in a quarter, some or all of the excess variously must be saved into the HSF.

If the excess is at least ten per cent of the estimate, all shall be put into the HSF. If less than ten per cent, then all or part shall be saved in the HSF.

A minimum of 60 per cent of the excess shall be deposited during a fiscal year, the act adds.

However the auditor general's report also said these parts of the act were "open to interpretation" and the act should be suitably amended to give more clarity on deposits.

Ramdass then questioned the timing of a billion-dollar deposit into the fund – the sum allegedly paid in two months too late.

She quoted the act (section 13) as saying a deposit shall be made into the HSF "no later than the end of the month following the quarter in respect of which the deposit was made."

For current purposes, a quarter meant a three-month period ending respectively on December 31, March 31, June 30 and September 30.

"A deposit to the fund of US$182,213,278 was made on December 23, 2022."

This deposit related to the quarter, July-September 2022, and the date of calculation provided by the Ministry of Finance was October 26, 2022, two months before the actual payment date of December 2022.

"The timing of the deposit of US$182,213,278 is in contravention of the requirements of the act," the auditor general said.

Newsday was unable to contact HSF board chairman Ewart Williams, but sent an e-mail to HSF corporate secretary Sharon Mohammed. Up to publication time there was no reply.

The HSF report was laid by Finance Minister Colm Imbert who moved that it be referred to Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Oropouche West MP Davendranath Tancoo.