Minister of Environment Adrian Forde has cleared the air regarding the 2022 Auditor General’s report which stated the National Conservation Commission (NCC) paid more than $1.5 million to a company for grease trap and septic well cleaning services.
The minister said he was surprised the media ran the story without checking the information available on the Parliament website which showed the Auditor General changing his initial report.
“On December 9 2022 at 8:04 a.m., I wrote to the permanent secretary regarding a report by the chairman of the NCC which identified certain anomalies in accounting,” Forde explained.
“The PS subsequently wrote the Auditor General and asked for a report. The Auditor General did a special audit and found the entity was in fact paid $432 641, a fair difference from the $1.5 million.”
Forde said the public report showed the payment as being more than $300 000 but the special audit available for the ministry gave the exact number and that was within their budget.
The special audit was conducted by the Auditor General.
He said the original figure of $1 553 402 was due to accounting errors on their part where some invoices were entered more than once.
Forde was speaking at a media conference on Tuesday at his Warrens Tower 2 offices. (CA)
Editor’s Note: This story was updated to indicate the special audit was conducted by the Auditor General.
