The Scandal Is Growing, and So Is the Pressure on Cabinet

The Ministry of Defense procurement scandal is no longer just about questionable contracts or the families of government ministers. It has now pulled several Cabinet officials into a political storm, triggered ministerial leave, and placed the ministry under sharper public scrutiny. While the scandal is being dubbed by many as the “Mira Millions,” Minister of Public Service Henry Charles Usher says the real focus now should be on the audit. According to Usher, auditors must be allowed to do their work independently, determine how far the investigation goes, and identify any breakdowns in oversight or internal controls that allowed the controversy to unfold.

 

Henry Charles Usher, Minister of Public Service

“I think that the information has been put into the public domain. You’re seeing the Auditor General going in there and doing an audit, and let’s see what the audit brings out. I think it’s important that if there are areas that need improvement, that those areas are improved, that if there are additional controls that need to be put in place. If you would recall, when you first asked me this question, even before the Auditor General stepped in, I said, “What is important is that an audit is done,” and I think that process is ongoing now, and we have to see what report comes out from the Auditor General. You would have to look at what exactly is the engagement of the auditor general or the lead auditor. I don’t know if it’s the auditor general carrying out the lead, the, who is the lead auditor in this particular case. But whenever an audit is done, a forensic audit is done especially, there is an engagement letter. And that engagement letter sets out what they’re looking at, what areas, what timeline, who they want to interview, what files they would want. So I haven’t seen that engagement letter. I assume that it was sent to the Ministry of Defense. But that engagement letter would specify who the auditor wants to interview or what steps the auditor believes needs to take so that they can have an independent, open, non, no interference in terms of the work they need to do.”

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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