Of course, after the hearings, we made sure to seek out Dorothy Bradley when she was exiting the National Assembly. She had always been a phone call away for clarifications on the audit reports, but for the past few months, she was declining interviews. Fortunately this morning wasn’t one more of those refusals, and she took a few questions from us. She shared her thoughts on day one of the Senate Hearings, and it also gave us the opportunity to ask her about those most often repeated lines of defence from the UDP Minister’s who we’ve questioned about being named in her reports. Here’s how the conversation went:
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"It went fairly well, my intent is to produce and to say exactly what happened and I have absolutely no problems with that."
Daniel Ortiz
"The trust of the Barrow government's resistance to the findings is that their right to natural justice was not afforded to them to be given an explanation as to why certain things were done. Do you feel that the way you delivered the report violated anyone's natural justice?"
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"I have not a clue the truth is that out of all this I hope that we will provide with the right resources to guide us properly."
Daniel Ortiz
"You made the assertion that recommendation comes from ministers in the Immigration and Nationality Department and that the regulations do not provide for these sorts of recommendations and if I'm not misquoting you, you draw the conclusion that because it does not exist under the law it might be legal?"
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"That question I would simply want to ask you how you feel about it because whatever happens in immigration has an effect on you and everybody else for that matter. Do you think that is right? You answer."
Daniel Ortiz
"The reason I ask ma'am is because all those persons named who we had an opportunity who are ministers who have given recommendations and we have an opportunity to question them; they seem to feel entitled just by being an area representative saying they are providing a service for those constituencies and that for you to draw the conclusion that they ought not to be giving recommendations is unfair and erroneous."
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"The truth is I never examined what they are entitled to as an area representative. What I've done is examine what has happened within immigration and as it relates to the regulations and those are my findings."
Daniel Ortiz
"Having done revisions is there anything else you feel that maybe you would have wanted to do differently in hindsight?"
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Not really I would simply turn around and ask you to examine what you have found in my report and to ask how relevant it is to you and to the country."
Reporter
"Would you say you learned something from this specific process and what you've had to go through as a result of this?"
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Oh certainly it simply means we have to even do better than what we are doing. We need to find people who can guide us properly and I mean legally and so yes there is always room for improvement so we made some mistakes, I will not say no but the truth is you will have to check the substance of those reports and then you make that evaluation."
Daniel Ortiz
"Give us your overview on what are the areas of concern that you think Belizeans need to pay close attention to when they review your audit."
Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"When you review my audit actually and really my audit will simply outline what we have found and those findings will be in relation to the regulations. If you're not complying with the regulations we will bring that to the forefront. We will say what we find, we do not find people guilty, that is for the law and we're not so we simply do an audit, examining records and we do our findings."
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