San Juan/Barataria MP Saddam Hosein said the People’s National Movement (PNM) is trying to attack every independent institution in the country.
He made the comment while defending the Auditor General, who he said had been threatened and harassed in the current issue regarding attempts to include additional revenue in the Auditor General’s 2023 report.
Hosein is now calling for a police investigation of the public accounts for 2023 to find out what happened with the handing over of those accounts to the Office of the Auditor General.
At a UNC media conference yesterday, Hosein said there were reports of two statements dated January 31, 2024, with different figures—one with $61 billion in revenue and another with $64 billion, which accounted for the $3 billion difference.
“This means one of the accounts was backdated, so there must be some explanation why the Auditor General was given two different statements, both dated January 31st, 2024, both submitted at different times and both having different revenue figures,” he said.
“I heard the Finance Minister indicating they’ll launch an investigation into this. All they have to do is go into the dossier, based on the file at the ministry, pull up the correspondence and see exactly what was sent to the Auditor General’s office. This doesn’t call for any big investigation. It’s a simple matter to determine whether or not the accounts were in fact backdated.”
Hosein added, “And if what is said is true, that’s tantamount to fraud and misbehaviour in the public office. If true, how could you backdate T&T’s public accounts reflecting a revenue figure of $3.2 billion difference.”
Hosein said there was also another account dated April 16, 2024.
“So this matter calls not only for an internal investigation, but there must now be a police investigation into what occurred with respect to the handing over of these accounts to the Office of the Auditor General.”