Auditor General Says Politicians Don’t Direct Her Work

Opposition Leader Tracy Panton is questioning whether the Auditor General’s investigation into the Ministry of National Defense is truly independent. She is calling for a forensic audit, claiming the office has been compromised. But Auditor General Maria Rodriguez rejects that outright, saying politicians do not direct her work and that she alone decides when an audit moves forward.

 

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition

“I feel like the Auditor General’s office has been compromised. The Auditor General should not wait for direction from the Prime Minister’s office to do an audit. She is a constitutional office holder. She responds to the National Assembly. And the fact that she has been waiting for direction and guidance from the Office of Prime Minister is already – to me has already compromised what potentially can come out of that audit.”

 

Maria Rodriquez, Auditor General

“There is no way that anybody can call me and tell me, “You cannot do this audit,” or, “You are supposed to do this audit.” There is, there is no way. What happens is that many ministries find themselves caught up in all sorts of fraud, all sorts of non-compliance issues and they don’t know what to do. So we are called and we’re asked to come in and give recommendations, do an audit, give a recommendation. So that’s not telling me what to do. It’s asking me to do my job and that’s what I do. But there’s no way anyone can interfere with us operationally speaking. We have it. We have the framework, the legal framework to proceed with our audit work. What we don’t have is the fact that we depend on line ministries to get our budget, to get our HR resources. I must say though, that when I started I’ve received collaboration from both the Ministry of Finance and Public Service to ensure that I have additional budget when needed and as well as being a part of the interview panel process to obtain my technical staff.”

 

Tracy Panton says only an independent forensic audit can give Belizeans the transparency and accountability they want at the Ministry of Defense and across government. She says she has no confidence that the Auditor General’s Office can deliver an uncompromised report.

 

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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