What I don't understand is, the politicians draining T&T dry and the people there just seemed to be ok with it? No protest, nothing?
No Internal Audits
By Andre Bagoo (Newsday).
MILLIONS of dollars in discrepancies have been reported to have occurred in the books of the Sport and Culture Fund, administered by the Office of the Prime Minister, for the years 2005 to 2009, according to the findings of a series of audits done by the Office of the Auditor General earlier this year.
Five reports, dated January 23, 2015, were tabled in Parliament last month, almost a decade after the events in question.
The reports raise questions over a $12.8 million figure for cash at bank; state that there was no evidence of internal audits checks; query signatories for accounts; and flag missing documentation. There was an overstatement of one figure by $1.2 million; and a fixed deposit certificate valued $57,636 was missing.
The fund was audited by an internal accountant annually during the period, but the books of the Fund for the years 2005 to 2009 did not appear to be audited by the independent Auditor General’s Department until this year.
Section 15 of the statute governing the fund — the Sport and Culture Fund Act — states the board is to keep annual accounts which are to be audited at the end of each financial year by the Auditor General.
The 2015 Auditor General reviews were signed off by Majeed Ali, the former Acting Auditor General. Ali was replaced on January 27, 2015, by Lorelly Pujadas, also acting in the post.
The little-scrutinised Sport and Culture Fund was incorporated in 1988 by way of an act of Parliament. The principal activity of the fund is, ostensibly, to facilitate the provision of sporting and cultural activities in Trinidad and Tobago by providing grants and loans to deserving individuals, groups and organisations.
The objective of the fund — which has its own board — is to nurture and develop human and technical resource capabilities in sport and culture, while encouraging self-reliance of groups, associations and individuals undertaking related activity.
The fund’s main source of income is the surplus from instant lottery games deposited into the fund’s Central Bank account by the National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB). The surplus is the amount realised after defraying all the expenses and payment of prize money from the proceeds received from each instant lottery.
For the year 2009, the Auditor General raised questions over a claim that there was $12.8 million in cash at bank.
“Confirmation of bank balances was not produced,” the report stated. This related to a fixed deposit and a current account held at First Citizens Bank Limited. Also, “a cash book and general ledger account for accounts payable and accruals were not produced.” In relation to internal controls, the auditor said, “There was no evidence of internal audit checks on the documents examined.”
In that year there were $3 million in grants, and income of $4.5 million from the lottery stream. Some of the grantees included a steelpan orchestra; a drumming workshop; students of design, music and photography; a parang festival; a footballer seeking to compete at events in Texas; national chutney awards; and one auto-biographer. A loan of $41,715.39 was written off because the recipient could no longer be found. There is no suggestion of wrong doing or breaches on the part of recipients.
For the year 2008, confirmation of an $11.1 million cash at bank balance was not produced, a cash book and general ledger account for accounts payable and accruals were not presented for audit examination. There was no evidence of internal audit checks. The disbursals that year totalled $4.2 million, lottery income was $7.7 million.
In relation to a $7.6 million cash at bank balance, there was no confirmation for 2007. A cash book and general ledger account for accounts payable and accruals were not maintained. A figure for the accumulated fund was overstated by $1.2 million. A $57,636 fixed deposit certificate was not produced. No adjustment in the books was made for a $37,100 “overpayment” by the NLCB. There was no evidence of internal audit checks. The grants that year totalled $5.5 million, lottery income was $4.1 million.
A cash book was missing for 2006, when, yet again, no internal audit controls were evidenced. Grants totaled $2.4 million, while lottery income was $1.7 million.
In 2005, minutes of board meetings numbered 33 and 34 were not signed by the then chairman of the board of the fund. There was no cash book produced and no evidence of internal audit checks, even as $3.2 million in grants were given out and lottery income of $9.8 million received.
