Premier Andrew Fahie has said that all funds awarded to individuals in the various stimulus grant programmes can be fully accounted for.
The premier’s comments follow the recent developments from the ongoing Commission of Inquiry COI, where an audit which was conducted by Auditor General Sonia Webster on one of the programmes revealed a number of discrepancies.
According to Webster, an audit on the Farmers Stimulus Grant Programme found that nearly 49 percent of the monies awarded in the programme, which amounted to more than $1.4 million, went to persons who were not registered as farmers in the Agriculture Database of Registered Farmers.
Premier Fahie, who was speaking on the Virgin Islands Party Let’s Talk Radio show following the claims, assured residents that all monies allocated have already been accounted for.
He said, “I just want to state that your government gives you the public of the Virgin Islands full assurance that all funds for all stimulus grants given out to the public can be fully accounted for and is already fully accounted for, and all I can say at this time is that time will reveal the truth.”
Audits don’t always paint the full picture
The Premier also said that he carries no disrespect or hard feelings towards the Auditor General and her role, as it is an important element of good governance in the BVI.
However, he said that audits don’t always paint an accurate picture of certain programmes especially in cases where all the relevant information is not present during the audit.
“I would say that in terms of the Auditor General that your government respects the role of the internal audit department and the Auditor General’s Office as we do for all the statutory offices, it is a very crucial component of good governance. But audits represent a snapshot picture at a given point in time, therefore at a different point in time the picture can change as the available information changes,” he stated.
“The validity and accuracy of an audit report also depends on the data that is analysed to come to the findings and conclusion. If the information is incomplete, then it will not show the whole picture. So if all the data was not analysed or all of the data was not available to be analysed given whether it be in terms of availability, then the conclusion of the report has to be approached with caution, because the analysis is not based on all the data,” the premier further explained.
The Premier also revealed some of the data from recipients of the programme and said that 98 percent of valid applicants received some form of assistance.