The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Opposition Leader Hon. Lester Bird, met on Wednesday afternoon with the Director of Audit to seek more specific information on the unjustified and unlawful spending of more than forty-five million dollars ($45,000,000), on fences, during the years 2007-2009. The Accountant General, invited also by Mr. Bird to the meeting, was not present. She is presently on vacation and is not now in Antigua.
The discussion between the Leader of the Opposition and the Director of Audit was conducted in a non-confrontational manner, and began after the Honourable Lester Bird presented the Auditor with a Memorandum. That Memo listed eight specific questions regarding the provision of documentation in the fences scandal, and it sought other assurances including the willingness to answer additional questions in the future.
The case of Alister Thomas versus The Auditor, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, among others, which was decided by Justice Olivetti in May 2004, served as the basis of the persistence which the Honourable Lester Bird has displayed in getting answers. The Judge wrote that “one is not entitled to sit back and enjoy the benefits of any office, especially an important Constitutional one, without performing the obligations in return. The spirit as well as the letter of the Constitution should be considered,” the Judge wrote.
The High Court Judge made clear that it is inappropriate for the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the Director of Auditor and the Accountant General to blame others for not being able to complete their constitutionally assigned tasks. The Director of Audit made it very clear that the Olivetti decision acts as his guide; he sends letters every three months to the Accountant General, copied to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, requesting the completed accounting statements that he needs in order to do his work. These statements have not been provided to the Auditor, in the past seven years.
Former Prime Minister Bird, who is now the Leader of the Opposition and the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, also made clear his determination to abide by the Olivetti decision. Mr. Bird noted, however, that the audited statements which his Committee will one day hopefully receive, will not provide the details necessary to identify the wrongdoers in the fences scandal. He is therefore pressing for information that details the manner in which forty-five million dollars were removed from the Treasury by way of special warrants, contrary to the law.
“Only a Commission of Inquiry, conducted in the glare of public scrutiny, can make the facts available,” Mr. Bird said, “and so even after receiving the audited reports, the Antigua and Barbuda people will still require answers,” he concluded.
The Honourable Lester Bird, Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, is therefore going to continue to press for a Commission of Inquiry. The people of Antigua and Barbuda, he said, continue to seek answers on the spending of more than $45,000,000 on fences, bathrooms, parking aprons, unfinished buildings, and an $8 million dollar stadium. Those answers can only be provided to a Commission of Inquiry that can summon witnesses and cause those witnesses to swear to an oath, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee asserted.
The Leader is aiming for a Commission of Inquiry before Christmas.
