Dr Tom Browne This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. www.stkittsnevis.net

   www.stkittsnevis.net/commissio - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/3/1992   Last Visited: 9/13/2000

   Yes Dr Browne. You seem to be alone today.
   
   Dr Browne : If it pleases you today we intend to call Miss Yvonne Charles, she will be very brief then Mr Rogers.
   ...
   Dr Browne : Your name please
   
   ...
   Dr Browne : Where do you live.
   
   Witness : Number one Ponds Pasture, Basseterre
   
   Dr Browne : What work do you do.
   
   Witness : I am employed by the Government as Accountant General.
   
   ...
   Dr Browne : What is the procedure in terms of advancing funds from the Treasury for travel and other purposes by officers of Government.
   
   Witness : General orders number 201 gives the authority to advance a sum of money to any Government Official for overseas travel and substance. The money is given on what we call advance warrant which is authorized by the Financial Secretary upon an application by the Government official. That money is used to pay hotel bills, meals and other incidentals that the person might incur when travelling on Government business. Officers are required to clear that advance or account for the monies advanced to them immediately upon return to the Federation.
   
   Dr Browne : That advance is against what.
   
   Witness : It is an advance account so that is below the line account. It is not yet brought up to an expenditure head. It is at the time the accounting for the expenses that it is charged against the recurrent expenditure.
   
   Dr Browne : What if the officer do not account.
   
   Witness : There is a system in place whereby the Accountant General has the authority to make deductions from the officer's salary. That is the Public Servant's salaries if they fail to clear the advance.
   
   Dr Browne : And Officers are expected to clear these advances immediately.
   
   Witness : Immediately upon return
   
   Dr Browne : Well what is the position when a Minister travels with advance, he does not clear immediately upon return, but even before he clears that he travels again.
   
   Witness : Well normally for the Civil Servants we do not approve or advance monies once the person has an outstanding amount unless we get the approval from the Financial Secretary. When the advance warrant is received by Accountant General, we make a check on our accounts. If the person has an outstanding amount, the warrant is sent back to Ministry of Finance for further directive and they would tell us whether we should go ahead and advance the monies or not. Sometimes it is necessary to give them a second one in that they have returned to the Federation and there be not sufficient time, in some cases some people return say maybe on the Thursday, Friday and they have to travel again on Sunday. In those cases we can give a second advance but under normal circumstances we do not give a second advance once one is outstanding. You did ask the question about the Government Ministers.
   ...
   Dr Browne : Now show Miss Charles the resource book and have a look at let us say tabulations 25.
   ...
   Dr Browne : What does that represent.
   
   Witness : This says amount spent while on Government business in the U S Virgin Islands from November 18 to 22, 1988.
   
   Dr Browne : Look in the left hand corner, I see the date 23/11/90, what does that represent.
   
   Witness : This represents the date on which the voucher was actually prepared and it was authorized for payment in 1991 by the Financial Secretary.
   
   ...
   Dr Browne : So the Government would close its accounts for 1988.
   
   Witness : On the 31st December 1988
   
   Dr Browne : With this amount outstanding
   
   Witness : Yes
   
   Dr Browne : Well this do not constitute an advance.
   
   Witness : No this is the claim, the voucher does not make any reference to any money that was advanced. It is straight travel and subsistence claim that was submitted.
   
   Dr Browne : What do you expect if anything to be submitted with this voucher.
   
   Witness : All the bills, the hotel bills
   
   Dr Browne : I see something here.
   
   Witness : Yes there is a claim form the P17 form, the claim for subsistence.
   
   ...
   Dr Browne : Dated November 23, 1990?, DATE : [ 11/23/1990 ]
   
   Witness : Yes on the claim form though, it makes reference to the advance warrant number 12788 of $ 8, 500.00. On the bottom right of the claim form.
   
   Commissioner : You say the advance was given.
   
   Witness : On the claim form.
   ...
   Dr Browne : So he did receive an advance.
   
   Witness : $ 8, 500.00, yes. Advance warrant number 127 of 88.
   
   Dr Browne : Well do you expect a voucher to be on the record for that. For that $ 8, 500.00.
   
   Witness : At that time no bills or anything would have been attached, it is just a straight voucher that was prepared on the submission of advance warrant.
   
   Dr Browne : Well and that advance warrant ought to have been referred to on the claim.
   
   Witness : Usually on the voucher you put it in. Detailed description of services and articles should be somewhere in there, but it does say it on the claim of subsistence form.
   
   Commissioner : So the $ 4, 230.63 was in addition to the advance.
   
   Witness : No, that was the amount he was claiming from the advance.
   ...
   Dr Browne : Where would you expect that refund to be reflected.
   
   Witness : On the receipt voucher. When they are clearing the advance the advance is cleared in this way. That a receipt voucher is prepared for the total amount advanced and that would be placed against the advance account and that would clear the advance and then the expenditure to be charged against the recurrent head which is Travel and Subsistence would have been prepared for $ 4, 230.63. In that case the voucher which was dated the 23rd of the 11th month. Now in order to account for the $ 8, 500.00, the difference would have had to be refunded to the Treasury either by cheque or by cash.
   
   Commissioner : But there is no reference to that.
   ...
   Dr Browne : Now let me ask you this, I do not want to go in the realm of speculation, but could you guide me if you think I am going beyond the boundaries Sir. Do you think the lapse of time between the date of the advance and the accounting for the advance had anything to do with the lack of information, cross-reference information on these vouchers.
   
   Witness : I can not say. I know officers usually complain that they have lost receipts over time. That is they are required to do it immediately so they would have all the receipts to submit and it is very difficulty even as an auditor because at the time I was in Audit, when you are auditing to really certify that the total amount was actually incurred in the public interest.
   
   ...
   Dr Browne : Now show the Accountant General S.G.V.B.2. (Mr Greene I do not know how you keep track of all those papers.
   ...
   Dr Browne : He has to that is why I do not touch them at all).
   ...
   Dr Browne : I am not really concerned with the figures, we went through that yesterday. My focus .....
   
   Commissioner : Do you prefer to sit.
   
   Dr Browne : In the middle of the morning. I have a back ache. I am not focusing on the amount, I am looking at procedure so you can deal with it in time. Look at page 1 Madam Accountant General, look at number 2, you see 850110.
   
   ...
   Dr Browne : This is a spreadsheet, it is in evidence already reflecting money paid to Mr Heyliger from the Government Treasury.
   ...
   Dr Browne : If you look at 2 you would see that was an advance for 1984 December or November. 29 November to December 9 1984 and he is clearing that advance when.
   
   Witness : In 85. 19/12/85. When the amounts are outstanding in the Treasury, like I said earlier, it is not customary to deduct from Government Minister's salary. A reminder is given and I can only say that a reminder might have been given to the Honourable Minister at that time to have the outstanding amounts accounted for. That is the only explanation I can give.
   
   Dr Browne : That does violence to the your accounting, do not it.
   
   Witness : Yes because like I said we operate on strictly cash basis and if monies are incurred in a particular year and not charged during that current year what it does is to reduce the amounts that we have to spend for the following year.
   
   Dr Browne : You see the fall out from that as I understand it Sir in the case where say he was required to repay or refund, that money is kept for a year and more.
   
   Commissioner : He gets interest free loan, so to speak, from the Government for a year or years. But at least he made an effort in December to clear the back log.
   
   Dr Browne : Yes Sir. He did we will applaud him for that better late than never. If you go down to item 11, we go down again, that is the 22 May 1987. He is clearing for November 86, and you have 6 as it were, clearances on that one day.
   
   Witness : Yes. For 86 and 87, early 87, January 87, number 15 all the others are for 86.
   
   Dr Browne : Mr Commissioner you will observe silently that I am speaking demonstrably to procedure.
   
   Commissioner : Yes, number 11 to number 16.
   
   Dr Browne : Because that would assist you i