| PM: I Can’t force SIDF to Publish its Accounts |
| By L.K. Hewlett |
| |
|
|
|
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas |
|
|
|
|
| |
Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas says he is powerless as it relates to the publishing of the SIDF accounts. In January PM Douglas informed that the SIDF accounts could be made public following his request that the Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation publish its financials.
“The accounts of the SIDF have been audited and, because of the national significance of this import Foundation, I have requested the independent Board of Governors, which is responsible for this Foundation, to make available the audited accounts of the Foundation for public scrutiny,” he said.
However The Prime Minister recently spoke exclusively with The Observer and said while he had made the request, he had no control over if or when the SIDF accounts would be published.
“It is not for me to determine when they are published; it is not for me at all. It is for the Board or Councilors, as they are called, to determine that with the collaboration of their auditors,” he explained.
“…to say that it has an obligation to publish its accounts to the public, I have no call on that.”
PM Douglas said the laws that established the Foundation indicated that the SIDF is a private organization and maybe the Foundation should publish its accounts to its membership.
According to the SIDF website, “The Foundation has its own organization separate from the Government and is managed by an independent Board. The Board manages the Foundation's affairs and regularly meets to set policies and priorities for the Foundation's activities in the Federation. The Foundation is audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers.”
The SIDF Board comprises Terrence Crossman, Ports Authority CEO as Chairman; Member Dr. Hermia Morton Anthony, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture; and Member Ambassador Rosalyn Hazelle, who is attached to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Observer questioned Dr. Douglas as to why he had requested the publishing of the accounts in light of the fact that the Foundation was not under government administration.
“Because people were asking questions. I have no objection for them to do it but I can’t force them to do it neither will I tell them they have to do it because they are governed by their own law,” he responded.
The Observer also questioned the PM on why monies obtained from the procurement of St. Kitts-Nevis Citizenship and passports were being paid into a private Fund and not a government agency. Foreign nationals with no familial or investment ties to the Federation can donate US $250,000 to obtain citizenship which entitles them to the right to apply for St. Kitts-Nevis passports. He stated that by law the Foundation does not have to be under the ambit of government.
“It has nothing to do with government. Government gets its fees whenever citizenship applications are being processed. Government has basically been a partner in the establishment of the Fund because we believe that the funds could be used for the continued development of the country and because we understood from the law that established the Foundation and what it is to be used for specifically, government supports that basic mission and statement of the Fund,” said Dr. Douglas.
He stated that government “wants and sanctions” when an individual takes a decision to make an investment or contribute to the Foundation but was not in the business of selling citizenship.
“We are not selling citizenship so don’t really care that we have to collect money. That’s not the idea at all. The actual processing of the application and so forth, the government is paid for doing that. Government is paid well for the processing of applications for; government time, its officers and officers and so forth are well paid for.”
Opposition parliamentarian Hon. Eugene Hamilton remains skeptical that the SIDF accounts will ever be published. He said Dr. Douglas was posturing to appease the people in light of pressure being put to bear on him to publicize said accounts.
“As far as I’m concern the Prime Minister’s statement that he has asked the SIDF to publish its accounts is just a public relations exercise to make the people of the Federation believe that they are transparent in what they do. They just want to hoodwink the whole country into believing they are doings things in the open,” he told this media house.
Hamilton accused the government of “wholesaling St. Kitts and Nevis passports” and not putting the money into the Treasury but instead into a private foundation away from the Public Accounts Committee, Auditor General and parliament so that they could “spend it as they like”. |
