Auditor General Sue Winspear has made it clear neither she nor her office was involved in the leaking of a report that identified critical breaches of the law and Constitution, prior to the 2021 election, through the setting up of Cayman’s international offices and participation in the Dubai Expo.
“The leak did not come from me or anyone in my office,” Winspear told the Cayman Compass in a brief emailed statement.
Winspear declined further comment on the issue and the findings of the report.
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, appearing on the Compass Facebook talk show The Resh Hour Wednesday night, said the inquiry into the leak is ongoing and, as a result, he could not comment specifically.
However, he was critical of the entire situation and how it has unfolded.
“It’s simple as this: we want people to be responsible. If you are given a confidential document, don’t leak it…. We take confidentiality seriously, we take transparency seriously, we take accountability seriously and we are doing our jobs, but all we’re asking persons to do is to respect that process and allow us to get on with it,” he said.
Pressed on the findings in the report – and whether any disciplinary action has yet been taken as a result of the issues identified –Manderson declined to say.
“We are dealing with the report. We are taking the appropriate actions and, at some point when all of those things are finished, if we can say something about that, then we will for sure,” he added.
It comes after Governor Martyn Roper, on Tuesday evening, announced that the unauthorised leak of the fact-finding report would be investigated.
The Office of the Auditor General report, dated November 2021, flagged contractual agreements for the offices, and financial commitments that went along with it, as contrary to the law, since it all happened shortly before and after the 2021 elections and without the sufficient budget provision and parliamentary approval to do so.
The Compass understands the report was only distributed to a small select list of individuals after having been handed over to government and Governor’s Office officials.
Progressives withhold comment, criticise leak
Meanwhile, the Progressives, under whose administration the breaches occurred, have also opted not to respond at this time to the findings of the leaked auditor general’s report.
Progressives and Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart said the party will “respect the ongoing inquiry process and so will also refrain from discussing the report at present”.
McTaggart, in a statement on Wednesday, added that the Progressives encourage “the speedy conclusion of the inquiry and look forward to its work being published”.
Calling the leaking of the report, “regrettable” and “a deplorable attempt to pervert the course of justice”, McTaggart said the Opposition is “eager for the full facts to be known to the public but, in the interim, will respect the position taken by the Governor and Deputy Governor that in the interest of an ongoing inquiry, they will refrain from discussing the matter”.
Report highlights breaches
The report, which was obtained and published by Cayman News Service, looked into the work undertaken by the former Ministry of International Trade, Investment, Aviation and Maritime Affairs, to set up three Cayman Islands overseas offices.
The report pointed out that the ministry acted against the law when it signed agreements and contracts to open overseas offices in Hong Kong, Brussels and Washington, D.C., as well as attend the Dubai Expo, days before the 14 April election last year.
The report took issue with the-then ministry’s actions in making the appointments, ahead of securing parliamentary approval for funding and signing contracts after the new election date was announced.
These actions, it contended, essentially tied the new PACT government’s finances to commitments, thereby violating the Public Service and Public Finance Management acts.
As for the offices, the Ministry of Financial Services last week told the Compass work is continuing and details will be announced “as soon as local procedures and host country requirements are satisfied”.
“Government continues to move forward with opening the Cayman Islands overseas offices in line with local good governance procedures, and in accordance with legal requirements in the host jurisdictions. Parliamentary budget approval for the offices’ funding, which was obtained in November 2021, is also a significant step forward,” the brief emailed statement following Compass queries said.
The PACT government placed a hold on the creation of the offices once it was sworn in.
Last week, prior to the leak, McTaggart raised the issue of the importance of the Brussels office as Cayman Islands is set to be included on the European Union’s list of high-risk third countries for money laundering.
The report, which was requested by the governor, set out the total price tag of $5 million for establishing the overseas offices and funding government’s commitment to join the Dubai World Expo, in which Cayman is presently participating, headed by Alee Fa’amoe, Cayman Islands representative in the United Arab Emirates, as part of the United Kingdom Pavilion there.
Auditor General Sue Winspear, in the report, stated that Cayman does not currently have a similar policy to the UK, which prevents new policies, procurements or commitments to major expenditures in the period running up to an election.
“I therefore believe that a comprehensive pre-election policy and a set of protocols should be in place to guide the conduct of the civil service before, during and immediately after an election,” she said in her report, dated 10 Nov. 2021.
In addition, she recommended that the “policy should also be clear to existing ministers that they may not initiate new policy, new projects or spend from the point the election is called in order to protect the fairness of the electoral process and avoid the risk or biasing the voting population”.
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