Georgetown : The Government in a statement today says the Administration never denied the existence of instances of corruption in the public sector; in fact, it recognises corruption as a great wrong, which it remains committed to correct.
The ruling PPP/c government clarify that there is an Auditor General (AG), who has great and enhanced powers under the constitution and is given tremendous legal latitude and freedom to audit all accounts which are funded by public monies in the State apparatus.
All Government agencies, ministries, departments, and corporations are audited by the AG, who then prepares a report which is sent to the Parliament, not to the Executive, and subsequently referred to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which is chaired and now dominated by the Opposition.
Under the PPP/C Administration, a system has been introduced in the Parliament, whereby Government Ministers are required to answer questions posed by the Opposition and to produce any document requested of them by the Opposition.
Additionally, with the Sectoral Committees in the Parliament, every aspect of governmental work is covered, individually and collectively. These Committees are now completely dominated by the Opposition and they have exceptional powers to summon any public officer, Government Minister or document which they wish to analyse.
This is another step that was introduced with the intention of exposing instances of corruption and making Government’s operations more transparent and accountable.
If a Committee unearths any evidence of corruption, it is free to forward a report to the Commissioner of Police for an investigation to be launched. The Commissioner will in turn, be forwarding its findings to the Director of Public Prosecution (an independent office holder) for further actions.
However to date, the Opposition, in spite of this seemingly widespread corruption, has failed to present any such report which documents evidence of corruption, to the Commissioner of Police.
