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PHILIPSBURG--Parliament unanimously approved the 2011 Annual Accounts of Government on Thursday. The approval comes three years after the period the accounts cover and well past the deadline stipulated by law.
The late tabling of the accounts was due to a severe backlog in the Finance Ministry; that backlog has since been cleared by current Finance Minister Martin Hassink who was at the plenary session of Parliament.
Hassink told the Members of Parliament (MPs) the backlog in the annual accounts is now a thing of the past.
The 2012 Annual Accounts has been completed by the ministry and been reviewed by Government’s Accountants Bureau SOAB and the General Audit Chamber. The accounts are now in the hands of the Advisory Council and will be submitted to Parliament in due course.
The 2013 Annual Account was submitted on time to the SOAB and the General Audit Chamber. It is now under review.
Answering queries from National Alliance (NA) MP George Pantophlet about the lateness of the 2011 Annual Accounts and past comments of the Audit Chamber about its hampering proper decision-making on subsequent years’ budgets, Hassink said Parliament has received the quarterly financial reports of government.
There is no backlog on the quarterlies. Parliament has been updated all quarters of 2014 and is in the possession of those reports.
Hassink also clarified that there was no internal auditing department put in place by former Finance Minister Roland Tuitt. Pantophlet asked the minister to explain why the department was “dismantled.â€
Hassink further explained there was a plan for such a department, but nothing was ever put in place.
Also attending Thursday’s meeting were MPs Cornelius de Weever (independent), Leona Marlin-Romeo (independent), Sarah Wescot-Williams (Democratic Party), Frans Richardson (United St. Maarten Party), Silveria Jacob, Christophe Emmanuel and Pantophlet of National Alliance, Maurice Lake, Johan Leonard, Tamara Leonard and Dr. Lloyd Richardson of United People’s party.
