Municipal corporations fail to account for $23b

SOME 12 municipal corporations have together failed to formally verify $23 billion in spending, that collectively represent 92 years of non-accountability, according to the Report of the Auditor General on the Public Accounts of TT (2023).

The document, by Auditor General Jaiwantie Ramdass, was laid in the House of Representatives by Finance Minister Colm Imbert on Friday.

Under the heading of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government, the document said the Municipal Corporations Act says each corporation's accounts were subject to audit by the Auditor General "in all respects as if the corporation were a Public Service department.

"To date 92 financial statements from regional corporations have not been received for audit.

"Expenditure extracted from the Appropriation Accounts of the Ministry for the related years totalled $23,069,889,622."

The worst offenders were Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation and Diego Martin Regional Corporation, which each had not submitted financial statements for the 14 years of 2009-2022.

Next were Point Fortin Borough Corporation, which owes nine years of statements for 2014-2022, and the keenly-contested Sangre Grande Regional Corporation, which owes eight years of statements from 2015-2022.

Siparia Regional Corporation has seven years owed for 2016-2022 and Chaguanas Borough Corporation owes six for 2017-2022.

Mayaro/Rio Claro Regional Corporation and San Juan/Laventille Regional Corporation each owe five years of accounts for 2018-2022.

Port of Spain City Corporation, San Fernando City Corporation and Penal/Debe Regional Corporation each owe four years, from 2019-2022.