Caribbean Times 95th Issue - Friday 10th February 2017

Friday 10th February 2017 c a r i b b e a n t i m e s . a g 5
Audit Department to introduce safeguards
By Everton Barnes
The Cabinet has asked the
Government’s Internal Auditors
team to sharpen its auditing
standards even further
to prevent over-charging and
other corrupt practices from
taking place in the public
sector.
According to Cabinet
spokesman, Lionel Max
Hurst the move is to ensure
that anyone attempting to
be paid by the Treasury for
goods or services will not be
unjustly enriched.
Hurst said a team of seven
very capable and well-trained
members from the Audit Department,
all of whom are females,
met with the Cabinet
when it was asked to put in
place a number of safeguards
to ensure that the Government
receives value for the
monies that it is called upon
to pay.
“Vouchers submitted to
the Treasury for payment,
for example, by contractors
cont’d from pg 4
children for examinations, we administered
fluoride to them and also gave them an oral
talk on how to take care of their teeth, proper
oral hygiene and dental care.
“A lot of the children that we do find
are not up to standard where oral hygiene
is concerned so we do the oral talk to boost
them on brushing, foods to avoid, foods to
brought on by Public Works,
ought to be paid only if the
work claimed to be done
has indeed been certified as
done. Cheating government
is primarily undertaken by
unscrupulous people who inflate
bills, fabricate bills, and
submit multiple bills for the
same work,” Hurst explained.
He said the Auditing
Team was asked to focus
upon one contractor in particular
whose submitted bills
appear bogus and inflated.
The team will report to Cabinet
in a few weeks following
the completion of its review
and its examination of certain
records.
eat, we gave them good brushing instructions”,
she said.
Over five hundred students took part in
this year’s exercise.
Last year’s event was held at the St Anthony’s
Secondary School in the Longfords
and Blue Waters area and according to the
organizers, the 2018 event is expected to be
rolled out in either Pares or Glanvilles.