The GSD says that the “desperate GSLP” faced with “shocking” revelations in the latest Principal Auditor’s report are now resorting to “trashing” the very man they praised a few weeks ago. 

A statement continued: "This is remarkable, unprecedented, disrespectful of his role and a complete contradiction. 

“On 22 April 2025 (just a month before he concluded his Report) the Government congratulated and thanked Mr Sacramento for his professionalism and dedication. They literally said that they extended their thanks, “...to Mr Tony Sacramento for his years of dedicated and professional service to Gibraltar.” 

“On behalf of the Government the Chief Minister then added: 

“The Office of the Principal Auditor must be protected from party politics and the Principal Auditor must be free to carry out his statutory responsibilities without being dragged into the political arena. He must be free to say and not say what he wants, when he wants and should not be submitted to public statements by politicians suggesting one view or another as a better position.” 

“Mr Picardo also added: 

“The Socialist Liberal Government will therefore continue to uphold and respect the independence of the Office of the Principal Auditor and provide full cooperation in ensuring the audit of public finances continues in line with established practice and statutory responsibility” 

“For the GSLP government now to trash and personally attack the Principal Auditor as politically charged and biased is a massive u-turn on the position they took only 5 weeks ago. It is also unprecedented and shows how little they have to say on the substance of the report. This is a senior public servant who (according to the Audit Office press statement) has spent 37 years in the audit office and had been praised by the Government itself. 

“All that is happening now is that as because they do not like the conclusions of the Report they are turning on the Principal Auditor. The GSLP contradictions and political hypocrisy are unbelievable but symptomatic of their politics.”

Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi said: “Very serious findings are reached in this Report. It shows that the Government have nothing to say when all it can do is play the man and not the ball to distract from the litany of waste and financial mismanagement. What happened to the statement they made a few weeks ago that the Auditor ‘...must be free to say and not say what he wants, when he wants’. The hypocrisy is stunning. It’s akin to – ‘it wasn’t me.’ It’s everyone else’s fault but never the GSLP’s. Are they saying the ex gratia payments haven’t been made or the massive overtime hasn’t been paid? Or that contracts went to tender properly when they didn’t. The fact is that this GSLP have nowhere to hide on this Report. This is precisely why they have created a 6-year time-lag to these Reports and blocked the Auditor’s work for years making sure these reports could not come out before the last election. They simply do not want these financial transactions to come out and for the public to be aware of these.”