The GSD says that what it describes as the “stunning revelations” in the 2018/19 Principal Auditor’s Report beg the question of “what else is happening and what has happened in the last five years that the GSLP Government have been so keen to delay from the light of day?”

A statement continued: “This combined with the catalogue of waste or financial mismanagement with taxpayers’ money and rampant opaqueness shows that we are in the closing down sale of this Government where anything goes and where they are reckless with the people’s money. 

“The cumulative result is waste of your money and a mishandling of public finances that badly exacerbates why there is less money for you. 

“The Report shows 

1. Payments or the award of contracts to persons close to the GSLP in circumstances of deep concern to the Auditor raising issues of political patronage or favouritism or the perception of political advantage;
2. Many questionable ex gratia “golden handshakes” unexplained and unjustified in the Auditor’s eyes;
3. Actions of the Chief Minister and senior officials described as “unconstitutional” or “improper”;
4. A culture of obstructionism of the Auditor & failures to respond to requests for information;
5. Massive, poorly controlled overtime;
6. Breaches of tendering procedures;
7. Weaknesses in controls of Government contracts;
8. Opaque and unaccountable spending of millions of pounds;
9. Poor value for money;
10. Irregularities in or seemingly arbitrary decision-making.

“This is just our initial reaction and the tip of the iceberg as the catalogue of issues are huge and impossible to cover in our first statement. The reality is that all this amounts to the raising of serious questions over the spending of millions of pounds of your money. We will continue to expose the details in this Report.” 

Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi said: “This is a GSLP that is now running wild. Some of the value for money audits show payments made or financial practices before and after the last election. None of the new GSLP candidates are absolved from these practices as not all are historic. Some of the payments that the Auditor has questioned under the recent value for money audits have been happening under their watch too. Nothing will change if the GSLP remain in office. 

“This is why the GSLP have engineered a 6-year time lag on the delivery of Principal Auditor’s reports by slowing down necessary legislation. It is to obstruct how quickly the information on their opaque and questionable financial practices emerges. Rather than things improving they are getting worse with the Auditor uncovering shocking examples of waste and suspect financial transactions. This is all with your money and it shows why they must be sacked by the people of Gibraltar at the next election so we can introduce the necessary reforms to ensure better controls on the use of your money.”