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Auditor general's response to PCJ audit coming
Inside Parliament
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, May 09, 2010
THE auditor general's response to the forensic audit of the state-run Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), which uncovered a number of damning breaches, should be before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament by the end of the month.
The audit, which covered the April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 financial year, found a lack of oversight and proper governance over the PCJ by the group managing director and the board of directors in place at the time.
DAVIES... the management of the PCJ has prepared a set of responses to the charges
DAVIES... the management of the PCJ has prepared a set of responses to the charges
1/1 
Energy Minister James Robertson, in a statement to Parliament in April, said the findings had been referred to the police, the Auditor General, Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Office of the Contractor General, for further action. Robertson at the time gave a grim description of the mismanagement of the entity over the period when the People's National Party formed the Government. The Jamaica Labour Party was returned to power in August 2007.
Addressing the first meeting of the PAC since the start of the financial year last Tuesday, the auditor general, Pamela Munroe Ellis, said she had begun her probe but was being stymied.
"I am seeking to determine the extent of the monetary discrepancies involved because of a recommendation that I am likely to make. It is beyond governance. That exercise is in progress. I do not want to give a timeline because it is tied to how speedily the information required is provided," she told the committee.
"There are other factors affecting the audit. The department is stretched beyond capacity and the dedicating of human resources to the audit and other competing audits has somewhat affected the timeline within which we can complete. We are working earnestly at it and I am hoping that by the end of May we can successfully complete it," Munroe Ellis added.
Committee chairman and Opposition spokesman on finance, Dr Omar Davies, at the start of the meeting, said the committee would await the auditor general's analysis of the audit report before delving into the findings.
At the same time, he demanded that the responses of the PCJ management to the charges be delivered to the committee.
"It has come to my attention that the management of the PCJ has prepared a set of responses to the charges and a document is in existence. I have not seen the document but... I intimated to the minister that it would be appropriate for us to 'have sight' of this document. I know the document exists," Davies said.
In the meantime, Munroe Ellis said she was reviewing both the report of the forensic auditor and the response to that report to assess any steps that have been taken to address the corporate governance structure and also to make recommendations, specifically for the issues highlighted in the report.
"I intend, as far as possible, to accept what the forensic auditor has said with discussions with my officers who participated in the audit. So I am taking it that in so far as the auditors' observations are current, I am making recommendations," she told the meeting.
"Quite a number of the observations have already been highlighted by my department. In fact, I believe two of the observations made it to the annual report last year. I don't think it is wise to throw scarce resources after so much has already been thrown in terms of human resources and time," Munroe Ellis said further.
The PCJ audit was ordered by former Energy Minister Clive Mullings in the aftermath of the Cuban Light Bulb Scandal. Former Junior Minister Kern Spencer, who had responsibility for the project, and his former personal assistant Colleen Wright are still before the courts answering money laundering and corruption charges.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...J-Audit-report
Inside Parliament
BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, May 09, 2010
THE auditor general's response to the forensic audit of the state-run Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), which uncovered a number of damning breaches, should be before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament by the end of the month.
The audit, which covered the April 1, 2006 to March 31, 2007 financial year, found a lack of oversight and proper governance over the PCJ by the group managing director and the board of directors in place at the time.
DAVIES... the management of the PCJ has prepared a set of responses to the charges
DAVIES... the management of the PCJ has prepared a set of responses to the charges 1/1 Addressing the first meeting of the PAC since the start of the financial year last Tuesday, the auditor general, Pamela Munroe Ellis, said she had begun her probe but was being stymied.
"I am seeking to determine the extent of the monetary discrepancies involved because of a recommendation that I am likely to make. It is beyond governance. That exercise is in progress. I do not want to give a timeline because it is tied to how speedily the information required is provided," she told the committee.
"There are other factors affecting the audit. The department is stretched beyond capacity and the dedicating of human resources to the audit and other competing audits has somewhat affected the timeline within which we can complete. We are working earnestly at it and I am hoping that by the end of May we can successfully complete it," Munroe Ellis added.
Committee chairman and Opposition spokesman on finance, Dr Omar Davies, at the start of the meeting, said the committee would await the auditor general's analysis of the audit report before delving into the findings.
At the same time, he demanded that the responses of the PCJ management to the charges be delivered to the committee.
"It has come to my attention that the management of the PCJ has prepared a set of responses to the charges and a document is in existence. I have not seen the document but... I intimated to the minister that it would be appropriate for us to 'have sight' of this document. I know the document exists," Davies said.
In the meantime, Munroe Ellis said she was reviewing both the report of the forensic auditor and the response to that report to assess any steps that have been taken to address the corporate governance structure and also to make recommendations, specifically for the issues highlighted in the report.
"I intend, as far as possible, to accept what the forensic auditor has said with discussions with my officers who participated in the audit. So I am taking it that in so far as the auditors' observations are current, I am making recommendations," she told the meeting.
"Quite a number of the observations have already been highlighted by my department. In fact, I believe two of the observations made it to the annual report last year. I don't think it is wise to throw scarce resources after so much has already been thrown in terms of human resources and time," Munroe Ellis said further.
The PCJ audit was ordered by former Energy Minister Clive Mullings in the aftermath of the Cuban Light Bulb Scandal. Former Junior Minister Kern Spencer, who had responsibility for the project, and his former personal assistant Colleen Wright are still before the courts answering money laundering and corruption charges.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...J-Audit-report
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