Comments on: Auditor General Criticizes Financial Statements

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:56:23 +0000

Truth Seeker
No I mean poorest quality of staff.

Generally limited experience in relevant government audits, lack of IT knowledge they do not have an IT audit specialist. And very poor all round finance skills, a lot of audit time is spent getting auditors up to speed, rather than spending time on actual audit.

By: Document: Government Financial Statements | Bernews.com

Document: Government Financial Statements | Bernews.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 03:02:03 +0000

[...] Auditor General’s report recently referred to the $2.4 billion “net debt”, which caused some question as to why that number is so [...]

By: Truth Seeker

Truth Seeker — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 02:36:01 +0000

@ Joe -

“They are the poorest audit department I have ever encountered.”

Would that have anything to do with the way they were hounded out of their offices under a pervious administration and re-settled in what I seem to recall were diabolical conditions? And has the AG’s office not been complaining for several years about being denied access to information from a former Government? I presume when you say “poorest” that you mean poor conditions rather than quality of staff.

By: Mad Dawg

Mad Dawg — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 18:54:46 +0000

But Zane said that project was ‘ all under budget’. And he should know, since he was Health Minister. Perhaps he forgot to let the Finance Minister know what the real facts were. After all, there were, and still are, various factions in the PLP who hate each other’s guts.

By: Navin Johnson

Navin Johnson — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 17:28:20 +0000

The extra billion comes from adding the cost of the new hospital

By: Deliverance

Deliverance — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:41:42 +0000

they are frightened! EB had our last AG effing ARRESTED!!! arrested for trying to ascertain the truth and get some answers! EB is the type of person the green regime are putting forward is a great guy! Lord help us! until people can come forward with what they know without fear of EB or Colonel sending the goons out to get’em then we’ll be stuck.

By: Mad Dawg

Mad Dawg — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:37:33 +0000

Where is the $2.4bn, c@@@@sucker?

By: Joe

Joe — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 14:31:39 +0000

The 1.4 billion relates to loans, overdrafts etc, the further 1 billion relates to pension shortfalls and these can increase,decrease depending on markets, but contributions would need to increase to bridge this figure. The government should be looking at the very expensive final salary calculations for pensions, one of the very few governments still paying pensions by this method.
The audit dept are not blameless in delay of accounts. They do not issue audit plans, delay starting audit, have poorly trained staff and take too long reviewing accounts. They are the poorest audit department I have ever encountered.

By: Bobmarlin

Bobmarlin — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:27:57 +0000

OBA,do what is right,INVESTIGATE!

By: Deliverance

Deliverance — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 12:36:32 +0000

Give whistleblowers amunity from prosecution and just see them all come out of the woodwork. without ammunity the only thing that is happening is a whole lot of shredding going on!

By: Pastor Syl

Pastor Syl — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:51:55 +0000

@.am. Hear hear Mr. Starling and any others with similar bright ideas.

By: Pastor Syl

Pastor Syl — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:48:47 +0000

@ oh this is funny: If the Auditor General didn’t have full access to the figures, there is no way Mr. Richards would have had the full picture.
Besides that is not the question you need to be asking. We want to know how come Ms Cox didn’t know or never said the truth? Can we get it back?
One thing you can be sure of Mr. Richards’ fingers weren’t in the pie.

By: Spanky

Spanky — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:43:51 +0000

@Eastern. I agree with you. I don’t own a boat but I’d sure like to have one and have been researching prices. For most people having a boat is a luxury item. It surprised me that more tax revenue is not generated from duties and annual licensing/moorings. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like paying higher taxes but $2.4B dollars in debt means we will all pay more and have fewer services. And all this while we are trying to increase our tax base by welcoming IB back to the island. A monumental task… And very frightening to imagine the reaction from those who have not yet grasped the new realty.

PS. You can stop taxing my plastic kayak though! If a person can single handedly lift his floating craft above his head he should not have to pay an annual licensing fee!

By: Pastor Syl

Pastor Syl — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:24:04 +0000

Must we pay pensions to people who were so grossly negligent with this country’s finances? At the very least the Finance Minister who must have known we were being raped and maybe was one of the perpetrators should experience some severe consequences.

By: Pastor Syl

Pastor Syl — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:09:40 +0000

The question I have is can we get any of that money back? Can we file charges? Is such major under reporting, hiding of information illegal. Can we seize and sell assets?
Our roads clearly indicate that they were not a part of the “investment in infrastructure.”

By: Wahoo

Wahoo — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 03:48:33 +0000

We need to “follow the money” to see who got from the numerous Government contracts that breached the Financial Instructions laws, which the Auditor General had told us last year amounted to more than $150 million in cost overruns. God only knows how high that amount is now.

For years Paula Cox refused to give the Auditor General the power to subpoena the books and records (including bank records) of Government contractors to see whether they were giving kickbacks….

The OBA must give the Auditor General that subpoena power so that we can find out who was getting money. That information will not only help send the guilty to prison for a long time (under Section 111 of the Criminal Code and under the money laundering provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Act) but it will allow the Government to freeze the assets of the guilty and get back any stolen money.

OBA Government, please act asap to give the Auditor General subpoena power and request a Commission of Inquiry to do a proper investigation.

We need to do this before the guilty can spend any more of the money….

By: Duane P. Santucci

Duane P. Santucci — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 03:44:19 +0000

No we are not finished and eb is sitting down on the waterside in his home at collectors hill,the interesting part will be his so called book to tell al and his side of the story.

I have a name for his book but i will reserve the right to say so here,I just hope this government looks into many allegations of misuse of public funds,the unfortunate thing is that much of what is allegations,even if there are discrepencies will be found to be nothing because of the way it was done and all our antiquated laws does not make it possible for legal action to be taken on the white color crimes that is believed to have taken place by several people.

Now before some jack rabbit says I am accusing someone in particular,I have not labelled anyone but will say that if you lay the cheese you will get a mice and if you put down rat poison,you are sure to catch the rats and kill it.

By: Out of flight

Out of flight — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 03:01:55 +0000

Where is Paula “principle” Cox ? Who caused all of this? Paula Cox
Where is she?
The principled one who did not resign when the others did.
The one who was incapable, incompetent to the point where she called the election and lost her own seat. How dumb. She said she had testicular fortitude…..lie number one then they started to multiply…..she had and has NO testicles….
Where is she?

By: Webster

Webster — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 23:37:24 +0000

Cox and Brown, will go down in the history of Bermuda as the worst Premier’s in Bermusa’s history…..

By: blankman

blankman — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 22:40:57 +0000

No – bob was quoting the numbers produced by the PLP

By: here's a thought

here's a thought — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 22:38:17 +0000

you really must be thick. BOB RICHARDS DIDN’T HAVE ACCESS TO THE ACTUAL FIGURES UNTIL THE LAST FEW WEEKS….he was the SHADOW finance minister – that means he was not ANY part of preparing the statements and had to go on what he was being TOLD by the PLP FINANCE MINISTER. we all assumed she was giving clean reports with real figures….obviously not. they withheld alot of information. it is coming out now. GET IT NOW??????

By: here's a thought

here's a thought — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:35:01 +0000

he saw the report that was prepared BY the PLP. duh.

By: Mad Dawg

Mad Dawg — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:18:24 +0000

Well we all know where a hundred mill went.

By: O.B.

O.B. — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:10:20 +0000

Lol did you read the article? Particularly where it says “preliminary numbers”. Preliminary, as in before, prior to looking at them in depth. But then again, you apparently support a party that runs up over 2 billion dollars worth of debt (at least).

By: Oh this is Funny

Oh this is Funny — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:46:25 +0000

http://bernews.com/2013/01/minister-richards-gives-first-briefing-on-finances/

He said it after he had time to review. Debt is 1.4 billion, don’t get it twisted.

Civil servants calculate figures, not politicians. They are impartial. stop your ranting and pay attention.

By: Oh this is Funny

Oh this is Funny — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:44:41 +0000

http://bernews.com/2013/01/minister-richards-gives-first-briefing-on-finances/

He said it here… Not accusing anyone of lying. The Government releases financial statistics. People above were accusing the PLP of lying saying debt was 1.4 Billion.

All I’m saying is Bob said the exact same thing, and no one is accusing him of lying.

By: Oh this is Funny

Oh this is Funny — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:42:09 +0000

The current minister of Finance saw this report well before it was released to the public and still made the statement above. Its a case of apples and oranges, but makes for a good headline.

By: Ste

Ste — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:29:25 +0000

stfu

By: Ste

Ste — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:27:38 +0000

stfu

By: Ste

Ste — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:20:29 +0000

About what?

By: here's a thought

here's a thought — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 19:04:01 +0000

methinks YOU may be confused. look at the date – bob richards was not the finance minister then. he had to go on what we all thought was TRUTHFUL information, at the time. you really didn’t put that together? such a shame. you’re such a good cut and paster.

By: Y)-Gurl

Y)-Gurl — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:34:21 +0000

Hard to believe Cox and Brown had math skills that bad, perhaps we can now have an independent audit of where all the money went during Dr Evils reign, it shouldn’t be hard to figure out…..

By: RawOnion

RawOnion — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:21:30 +0000

I haven’t seen the Cog since the election. I’ve seen the col, and a few others. She is a civilian now so I was hoping run into her in the aisle of the supermarket so that I can look at her in disgust like i do to members of the opposition when I see them.

By: RawOnion

RawOnion — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:16:22 +0000

The current minister of finance wasn’t the minister at that said date therefore he did not have full access to all financial records. I doubt the Auditor General is confused, she is still in the process of receiving more and more pertinent financial details as she also did not have full access. I’m sure, actually, i’m certain there is more to come.

By: here's a thought

here's a thought — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:01:35 +0000

seriously? bob richards JUST took control of the purse strings and doesn’t even have all of the information as of yet, and you are comfortable accusing him of lying?? really?? but somehow you are ok with having been lied to and mislead for 14 years. you are ok having watched the lavish spending of the plp government, the trips, the parties, the mismanagement of pensions etc etc…. and you are ok with a government that took bermuda from having almost NO debt to more than TWO BILLION dollars?? how stupid people in bermuda are is so sad. really sad. you should change your name because you are not funny at all.

By: Mad Dawg

Mad Dawg — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 17:58:42 +0000

Paula Cox was off collecting Women’s Awards right up to the end. And Bean is MIA now. He gets Roban to make the stupid comments they come out with.