Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh yesterday indicated that he has called in the Audit Office and the Police Force to conduct investigations into certain transactions executed in the Accountant General’s Department which are suspected to be unauthorised and irregular. Minister Singh stated that he had issued letters to both the Auditor General and the Police Commissioner bringing to their attention instances where certain superannuation benefit payments appeared irregular and designed to avoid standard financial and accounting procedures, and he invited the two agencies to mount an urgent special investigation into the matter and to report promptly on the outcome of their investigation.

The minister further stated that the transactions were detected following internal checks that were conducted by senior supervisory staff of his ministry, aided by relevant intelligence gathering activities.

Following meetings held yesterday, Minister Singh indicated that he emphasised to the investigating agencies the urgency with which he wished them to advance the investigations. He specifically urged them to ascertain whether the suspect transactions were in fact irregular, to evaluate the full scale of any irregularity committed, to identify the perpetrators, and to take all appropriate steps to ensure that the full force of the law is brought to bear.