GSD puts focus on parliamentary scrutiny as audit report tabled ‘at long last’

The GSD on Tuesday highlighted a call by the Principal Auditor for a Public Accounts Committee, as it again called on the Gibraltar Government for increased transparency to ensure proper parliamentary scrutiny.

The GSD made the comments after a preliminary analysis of the Principal Auditor’s 906-page reported covering the Public Accounts of Gibraltar for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018, which was “at long last” tabled in Parliament last week.

The delayed report covers a range of matters including a call for the creation of a Public Accounts Committee to conduct in-depth hearings on key findings of audit reports, something the GSD has long championed but the GSLP/Liberals oppose.

“The GSD has been consistently calling for the tabling of the Principal Auditor’s report which, in spite of the most recent publication remain shockingly long overdue,” said Roy Clinton, the GSD’s Shadow Minister for Public Finance.

“This significant delay should be the source of political embarrassment to the Government which is the main culprit for the delay by not bringing before the Parliament the supplementary appropriation bills, an essential pre-cursor for the reports to be completed.”

“The undeniable fact is that the report is a key tool in the exercise of parliamentary scrutiny over our public finances and the administration of Government.”

“The Government’s inexcusable failure in this area prevents such scrutiny from taking place to Gibraltar’s wider detriment.”

The GSD said the tabling of the report “does not remedy the massive lag in accountability” of the Government because reports on financial years dating back to 2019 were still pending.

It said the delay “squarely lies at the foot of the Government despite the best efforts of the Principal Auditor to fulfil his job”.

The GSD accused the GSLP/Liberals undermining the Principal Auditor’s work resulting in what it said was “a lack of timely accountability”.

The Principal Auditor’s report covers matters including Departmental Audits, Arrears of Revenue, Value for Money Audits, obstruction of obtaining information on Government Companies, overspends on the music festival and the Gibraltar Savings Bank, the GSD said.

Other matters raised concern the need for a new Public Audit Act and the proper resourcing of the audit department, the party added.

The report also includes the full audited accounts of the Gibraltar Savings Bank which are published for each of the five years 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The GSD noted that Sir Joe Bossano, as Minister responsible for the Savings Bank, “bizarrely” told Parliament just last week that he would refuse to gazette these despite the requirements to do so under s 12 (b) of the Savings Bank Act.

“Significantly, the Principal Auditor, like the GSD, is also himself calling for the creation of a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) as a ‘critical need’, contrasting sharply with the Government’s refusal to consider a PAC,” the GSD added.

“While we are not hopeful, the GSD asks whether the Government will change its unreasonable policy in this respect.”

“This extensive report contains much detailed information which we will continue to analyse.”