Mac defends deals, calls for AG’s opinion
Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush
(CNS): The opposition leader has said that Alastair Swarbrick, the auditor general, did not have the authority to determine that the deals his UDP government made with the Dart Group and Dr Devi Shetty were unlawful, following the findings in the latest independent audit from his office. McKeeva Bush described the findings as a “reckless” misuse of the auditor general’s position which had damaged the country’s reputation and put other investors off, as he called on the attorney general to weigh in on the issue.
In what was described as a “personal explanation” by the opposition leader, the speaker gave permission for Bush to make what was essentially a statement. Opposition members are not usually given leeway to make statements unrelated to the legislative business of the day. However, after Julianna O’Connor-Connolly, who was also criticised in the same report, allowed him to address the LA, Bush took aim again at the auditor general on the day that the governor’s office had revealed that Swarbrick had resigned in favour of a post with the OECD in Paris.
In what has now become a regular occurrence, Bush attacked Swarbrick and the findings of his office, as he defended the two deals his government presided over with Dart Realty and Shetty, which were at the heart of Swarbrick’s most recent publicly available report.
Bush said the auditor had exceeded his own powers as his office was supposed to carry out financial audits but not legal ones. It was not the auditor general’s job to determine if an agreement is lawful or not because that was a judicial function for the courts to decide after a public hearing where all parties positions would be heard, he said.
“We all know that the auditor general don’t call anyone in unless he can tell them what to say,” Bush declared.
He said the auditor general was wrong when he questioned the role of cabinet ministers as under the constitution, saying government minister have executive authority.
“The auditor general’s interpretation of governance structure is fundamentally flawed,” the opposition leader claimed.
Bush disagreed with Swarbrick’s position that when they made the deals, the UDP elected officials had acted outside legal roles because they had not sought approval from LA. Bush said the auditor was not only misinterpreting the Public Management and Finance Law but also ignoring the constitutional provisions that give minister oversight of policy implementation as well as the authority to make policy.
He said ministers were responsible for overseeing policy as they are responsible to the LA and, in turn, accountable to voters. Under what he described as the auditor general’s “scheme”, or way of doing things, elected ministers were not responsible for operations, but that was flawed. That, he said, implied that chief officers were meant to deliver policy outcomes, introducing a fourth arm of government. If things were done the way the auditor general claimed they should be, then the business of government “would grind to a halt”, he said.
The Health City agreement did not incur any liabilities as concessions were given without expenditures, the opposition leader said, accusing Swarbrick of unfair commentary and unsubstantiated allegations about a lack of value for money analyses, which he maintained were undertaken.
“He had no legal basis to make an assessment regarding the legality of the agreements,” Bush stated, adding that this cast serious doubt on the reliability of his report.
Accusing Swarbrick of harbouring a “profound distrust of politicians” and a desire to keep them as far away as possible from developers, the opposition leader said this was contrary to the constitution and would not work.
“Why assume that civil servants would be above questions of corruption?” he asked, as he suggested that politicians were kept honest by transparency and were accountable to parliament and the voters, while civil servants were unelected and not accountable.
Bush said the auditor general’s arguments and conclusion had given rise to unfortunate consequences, as he pointed to the claims now being made by the West Bay ladies who had challenged the NRA Agreement that they should have won their case in courts. But he said both positions were faulty.
Emphasising what he said were the ongoing benefits of both deals and the investment made by Shetty and Dart, the jobs created and the money coming into government coffers, he defended both agreements, suggesting they were worth as much as a billion dollars. But Bush claimed the auditor had cast doubt on the deals among foreign and local investors at a time when Cayman needed more investment.
He then asked if the attorney general should be asked to offer an opinion.
“I wonder if it would be prudent to ask the … attorney general’s office to weigh in on the merits of the auditor general’s statement regarding the legality of the agreements. I must ask, is the auditor general a judge or a planning adjudicator or an adjuster? No. He needs to stick to what he has responsibility for – value for money audits,” he said, as he berated Swarbrick for the report and implied he had exceeded his responsibilities beyond his remit and if things were as Swarbrick suggested, no government would be able to get anything done.
Category: Government oversight, Politics
Madame speaker, please remove yourself and your old partner in crime from my world.
MaKe your mind up CNS: does AG stand for Auditor General or Attorney General?I believe the latter.
CNS: AG = Attorney General. Bush is calling for the attorney general’s opinion on the auditor general. You’re right to criticise as we were at one time using AG for both but – as you point out – it was confusing so we stopped and now use OAG (Office of the Auditor General) wherever possible or use the full title or something like “government’s auditor”. I cannot remember exactly when we decided this but it’s been a while.
So I take it that there was no statement made by Hon Self Important, our Premier, and leader of the PPM about the Auditor General’s allegations in respect of one of his PPM members. I’m sure it wasn’t because he’s run out of words. He always has his ‘treasonous’ dictionary to turn to.
No; Julie’s okay in his sight now, regardless of what wutlessness she did in the past. She’s making up numbers for HIM and keeping HIM where he wants to be. That’s all that mattered to McKeeva and that’s all that matters to Hon Self Important.
Until we rid ourselves of all of that crowd, no better will we be!
The Cayman Islands would be a lot better off if it was the AG staying and William McKeeva Bush who was leaving these shores forever, along with all of those who slither in his circle.
And that includes Alden..
Signed: Sore udp weedhead loser.
Alden is here to stay. And he is in “my seat” for good, and for the good of our country, whether clowns like you like it or not.
Alden may be a good man, but he has now associated himself with scum and is proving an inability to do the right thing.
That’s one great comment, Mr. yeah right!
Pathetic that Mac only seeks the House as his platform for a (short and light on facts) explanation. Let him be interviewed on TV by a tough interrogator. But that’ll never happen as he’s gutless and wouldn’t last 5 minutes before he’s have to walk off citing “unfair treatment” or some such. Likewise Juju – she doesn’t even offer a half-baked explanation to the house. Pathetic.
Mr Bush has always hidden behind parliamentary privilege as regards the audit profession because he simply does not understand what auditors do. That became clear at the time of First Cayman Bank when the audit was fully qualified and we all know who was involved and what took place thereafter. Auditors come and go. Both Mr Swarwick and Mr Duguay have been excellent as was Nigel Easdale in days of less transparency.
The comment of Mr Bush ‘Civil Servants are required to act under the directions of Government’ is outrageous. Really Mr Bush? Should we have a tame AG?
An effective public sector audit activity strengthens government by materially increasing citizens’ ability to hold their public sector entity accountable. Auditors perform an especially important function in those aspects of governance that are crucial for promoting credibility, equity and appropriate behavior of public sector officials, while reducing the risk of government corruption.
Government cannot be effective in the absence of public trust. The AG plays a central role in fostering such trust and are referred to as the guardians of public trust. Without them the citizens of the Cayman Islands would lack credible insight into the soundness of the many inner workings of government.
The AG’s role supports the governance responsibilities of oversight, insight and foresight and he uses tools such as financial statements, performance audits, investigations to fulfill each of these roles. English case law says he is not a bloodhound, he is a watchdog. However seeing what has taken place at Government level over the past twelve years, particularly with Mr Bush at the helm, I would rather have been a blood hound. I am sure our last two AG’s have excellent pedigrees for they have done their best to ensure Cayman does not go to the dogs.
Excellent comment, Chris. Unfortunately, the person to whom it is directed at will not be able to understand all of it. Too bad.
So true- I like his play on words!! Could not have said it better myself.
Thanks Michael. I did not want to let sleeping dogs lie. Think about that one!
! I now see we have been blessed with the building fund report and the amazing disclosure.
Part of any audit must by its very nature look at the possibilities of wrong doing or fraud and any auditor is legally obliged to disclose their suspicions or qualify an audit for same. Those are the laws of the land, passed by the LA. That they are inconvenient for Mac or Juju is their problem. In fact the Attorney General should be looking at abuse of office by both fore mentioned to propagate their own causes by allowing such a speech. I doubt he would repeat those words outside the LA, mores the pity.
Don’t hold you breath on that one.
Politicians set policy civil servants implement policy. So if a politician wants to reduce the cost of electricity he gives that direction and civil servants comes up with a policy that the pollticans can approve. Once approved the politician steps back and the civil servants implement the policy they conduct the procurement etc it’s not about trust ….civil servants are trained technocrats ..pollticans are not ….civil servants are governed by a code of conduct ….politicians are not. That’s the Westminster system.
Bush lecturing Swarbrick (or anyone for that matter) on good governance is laughably absurd and wonderfully ironic.
carrots and milk.
“reckless” misuse of position which had damaged the country’s reputation and put other investors off… I thought Mac was talking about himself there! Talk about pot and kettle!
Looks like the truth hurts Mac for you to be making all this noise… yet again…. in case you haven’t noticed, we are all sick of your bleating, go away please.
Thank God for Mac he might be rough around the edges but he the only one out of the 18 that see what’s going on. Keep it up Mac no matter what they say defend our country.
That bush is bad for your brain.
Those washing machines must have been top of the line!
You poor deluded fool you/
Sorry mr. bush but after that fiasco with Cohen and that fiasco with CHEC and that fiasco with the two million donation to your church to buy wotes, and that fiasco with the residency grants, to name just a very few fiasco’s, I very simply cannot trust anything that comes out of your forever honerable mouth anymore. If Mr. Swarbrick says you failed to comply with your own laws in the management of crown land and the development of the island, that there were closed door deals where ministers gave away concessions and duties, fees and taxes without any public discussion or the scrutiny of the Legislative Assembly as required by law then the deals are indeed unlawful, and until you can demonstrate to the Cayman public that these and so many more accusations against you are untrue then this is one born Caymanian who is sticking up for Mr. Swarbrick to the bitter end. It is yet another travesty to these islands that yet another intelligent, dedicated, and professional auditor general has been chased out of this country in the name of corruption and ignorance.
You didn’t mention that fiasco with the consultant fees. Enough is enough, bush.
How do you spell fiasco Mr. Bush? “We don’t spell dem mister, we doos dem”.
LORD when can we see the last days of this politican? Ms. Govenor, please find someone to replace Mr. Swarbrick with the same neutrality and backbone.
It would be nice if any incumbent of the post had the feeling that they could rely on the governor and FCO to stand behind them when they find unpleasant facts, but having lost two AGs now both after raising issues of corruption, one wonders how they will convince an honest and diligent man to take the job. The track record with the Anti Corruption Commission and Information Commissioner equally depressing.
Can guarantee you deny gettin’ a Jacan for dat post and would not be surprised if handpicked by the UDP and their little spin off groups trying to get in somehow
Well I guess he had to say something but that’s pretty weak tea he’s making! Basically boils down to “The auditor general’s job does not include telling people when I do illegal things, shame on him”. Anyone who votes for him or Juliana deserves to have their wallets emptied by them.
An audit includes many judgment calls on legal issues. Someone with an education past 5th grade would know that.
So Mac waits to challenge the AG until right after he resigns……..This man is a master. LOL
governor must come out and back the role and findings of the auditor general….
I too harbour a profound distrust of politicians. I suspect I am not alone in this.
So do I. One politician in particular.