Last night we showed you the Auditor General's report on the embezzlement of almost four hundred thousand dollars from the Southern Regional Hospital. It is a damming catalogue of criminality at the individual level and carelessness at the official level.
Basically, anyone who's seen the report has to wonder, how could it be that no one was keeping an eye an account with hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds? For years no one saw a bank statement or asked for one. Incredible, and it went on for three years, and probably more.
In the end, the Auditor General Dorothy Bradley found that the ultimate responsibility rests with the CEO in the Ministry of Health, Peter Allen. Today at a press conference on another subject, we asked him about it:...
Jules Vasquez
"It says that ultimately the fault rest with you the CEO. The accounts went unchecked for 2 years and 9 months. The government of Belize lost $366,468.88. And the auditor general in her opinion, her considered opinion, said the blame rest with you."
Dr. Peter Allen, CEO - Ministry of Health
"It's interesting that this report is out because I was of the understanding that it was before the public service commission, so I am reluctant to debate the contents of the report which of course the individuals name in it have not yet have the chance to respond. But as you know the buck has to stop somewhere and I believe that is probably what the report says, that the chief executive office is also the chief accounting officer and therefore ultimately within that ministry the chief accounting officer is responsible for what happens."
Hon. Pablo Marin, Minister of Health
"Definitely I still maintain a full confidence in my CEO. What we look at the ministry is always for the benefit of our people."
Allen was speaking at a press conference his ministry had on the current fuss over pharmaceuticals, and we'll have full coverage of that event a little later in the news.
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