Government States That It Has “Nothing To Be Afraid Of” In Principal Auditor’s Independent Report
A statement from the Government in reply to the GSD’s recent comments follows below:
The GSD’s latest tirade on the issue of the Principal Auditor’s Report divulges Mr Clinton’s frustrations at not getting his way. Contrary to Mr Clinton’s tantrum-like accusations, the Government has nothing to hide and nothing to be afraid of in the scrutiny of these accounts.
In fact, the work that the Principal Auditor has done demonstrates the failure of the GSD and Mr Clinton. The Auditor has done the work of scrutiny that the Opposition is also required to do but fails to do in respect of the Estimates Book. The GSD prefer their lazy argument that the expenditure is not all in the Book and in that way seek to avoid doing the in-depth scrutiny work that all other oppositions have historically done.
The Government reiterates its utmost respect for the work of the Principal Auditor, and his staff, even where our positions may differ and we may disagree with him on some aspects of his conclusions, particularly on the matter of a Public Accounts Committee. The Government’s own position on this has repeatedly been made clear.
The sheer volume and depth of the report demonstrates the seriousness and rigor of the Principal Auditor’s work, which is just one of the reasons that the report has taken this amount of time to publish.
Additionally and importantly, the Accountant General submitted to the Principal Auditor advance copies of the Annual Accounts for 2016/17 and 2017/18 on 3rd April 2018 and 8th April 2019 respectively as quoted by the Principal Auditor in his report for 2016/17 and 2017/18.
The submission of the advance copy of the Annual Accounts to the Principal Auditor has now been normal practice for a number of years.
It is therefore false for the GSD to suggest that the Government has failed to provide timely copies of accounts or delayed matters through later passing of legislation.
It is also false assertions for the GSD to say that the Government have delayed the publication of the Principal Auditor’s report until after the 2023 General Election.
In fact in saying this the GSD makes a very serious allegation against a senior, independent Civil Servant who, as Roy Clinton emphasised during today’s interview on GBC’s Gibraltar Today programme, is an Officer of the Parliament and does not report to the Chief Minister.
It is an outright lie by the GSD to suggest this, given that what the GSD is, in effect, saying is that the Principal Auditor conspired with the GSLP Liberals not to publish his report until after the election.
The Government specifically confirms that no Minister had any knowledge of the timing of the report or of its planned publication.
On the issue of a Public Accounts Committee, the Government maintains its view that to subject Civil and Public Servants to cross-examination in a televised Parliament would be inappropriate. Far from running scared or seeking to protect those who take advantage of the system, the expenditure of departments are a Ministerial responsibility and it is the Minister who should be held accountable to the Parliament and to the electorate for public spending under their watch.
The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo KC MP, said: ‘Seeing the weakness of their own arguments, the GSD are resorting to conspiracy theories and bold-faced lies to try to convince the taxpayer of their untenable position. Their demonstrated lack of respect for the independence of the Principal Auditor in this case and the unfair allegations levied against him by the GSD for political spin show exactly why Civil and Public Servants should NOT be subjected to the interrogation of a Public Accounts Committee.’
