Calling Premier McKeeva Bush’s recent comments about the country’s auditor general “unfortunate” and “shocking”, Opposition Leader Alden McLaughlin said Tuesday night that the Premier was seeking to “intimidate the auditor general”.
Moreover, Mr. McLaughlin used a broadcast address to question whether the actions of the current government in awarding certain contracts were damaging Cayman’s credibility in the international arena.
“When due process is not followed, it opens up the ominous prospect of corruption,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “There are huge reputational implications for the Cayman Islands government here.”
Mr. McLaughlin said the country’s reputation for financial reliability has made it relatively easy for Cayman to secure financing even in hard economic times. However, he said the “spectre of corruption” had the potential to undermine credit ratings from international agencies, which help determine how much Cayman must pay in interest to borrow money and can also affect investors’ views of a country’s financial stability.
“If potential bidders come to believe that the process of awarding contracts is not fair, predictable and transparent, then the attractiveness of this jurisdiction as a place to invest is lost,” he said.
Following the release of an auditor general’s report that detailed deficiencies in government’s bid process in three instances, Mr. Bush blasted the auditor’s office in a broadcast address, stating he was being “bureaucratically harassed”. In various news media reports, he accused the auditor general of seeking out “media celebrity” and being a “hit man”.
Mr. Bush said there were details provided to auditors in the course of their investigation into the procurement process that did not get included in the final report.
For instance, he said he had never seen the contract for the 2009 Jazz Fest, which the auditor general’s office reported had not been put out to bid.
Mr. Bush said this was because civil servants told him the deal had been completed and that there was “nothing he could do about it”.
That was not reflected in the auditor’s final report under management comments, the Premier said.
“I take this as a direct slap in the face of the Premier and Minister of Finance and I will speak out when I see deliberate attempts to lay me waste in the public arena,” he said during a broadcast statement Friday.
Mr. Bush also said he believed the auditor’s decisions to “court” the press were out of step with his constitutional duties.
“The auditor general’s duty … is to report his findings to the Public Accounts Committee and the Legislative Assembly,” Mr. Bush said. “He should not be in these highfalutin every day interviews with the media. He should not be courting the press.”
“I will continue to support him and his office in getting value for government money spent.
I want a better procurement system.”
While he agreed that Premier Bush had every right to “respond robustly” to the auditor general’s findings, Governor Duncan Taylor said personal attacks against office staff members by the Premier were not called for.
The governor also said he believed the auditor general had done nothing wrong.
Mr. McLaughlin said the opposition ‘joined voice with the governor” in condemning the personal attacks.
“Not only are such attacks unbecoming of the office of premier, but they are also an abuse of authority as they seek to intimidate the auditor general and to reduce the credibility and reputation of that critically important office,” Mr. McLaughlin said.
“The former auditor general, Mr. Dan Duguay, was the recipient of similar verbal assaults and many, including me, believe that the non-renewal of Mr. Duguay’s contract was heavily influenced by the campaign waged against him by the Premier.”
In a response issued Wednesday, Premier Bush criticised the former government – of which Mr. McLaughlin was a minister – for not looking into a number of matters that arose during their administration.
Mr. Bush said those included: the purchase of the former Durty Reid’s bar for road works in Red Bay, a $2.5 million lease for the Maritime Authority in Strathvale House, and the procurement for construction of two new high schools on Grand Cayman.
“I guess some of the people who didn’t have to worry about audits carried on them can berate me for speaking out on the unfair manner in which an audit is carried out and written,” Mr. Bush said.
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