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The Senate’s Deep Drill Begins Into Immigration Irregularities
posted (December 7, 2016)

After exactly a month’s break, the Senate Select Committee resumed its hearings, drilling deep into the Auditor General’s Report on the Immigration Department. They’re trying to get to the bottom of the mass irregularities that her report has catalogued. 

Today’s session was a marathon 5 hours where Auditor General Dorothy Bradley was back under the public lens as they dissected the work of her audit team piece by piece. Today, the 5 member committee, in meticulous fashion, started with the portions of the document in which she and her team complained of what appeared to be deliberate attempts at frustrating the audit process. 

Now, in her interview with us in September, former Acting Director of Immigration Maria Marin, flatly denied any attempts to get in the way of the auditors. She told us that she did all she could to help them, but in some instances, the department could not, for example, provide files because the Police had taken them in their own investigation.

Still, the Senate Committee wanted to have the Auditor General explain the conclusions in her report and today, she called one of her Audit team members, Carla Faber. Faber was the lead auditor who reviewed the Immigration Department during the period in question, and so, she was able to answer some of the key questions. Here’s how that  back and forth went:

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"When we started the audit on the 20th of November and we sat with Ms. Marin she told us that she had OIC, officers in charge that whatever records we need that we would go to those OICs that we didn't need to come to her again so we went to the OICs. When we found out that we couldn't get the records we talked to the OICs and we told them that we couldn't get the records which they were aware of and they told us that in speaking to Ms. Marin she told them that the records were with the ministry or minister."

Aldo Salazar - Chairman, Senate Select Committee
"Was it your view that the actions of the department were unwarranted and unacceptable?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"That's what I reported to the auditor general."

Aldo Salazar - Chairman, Senate Select Committee
"What was your basis for this view?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"Because when we ask for records we didn't get it and we asked more than one time, we even requested it in writing."

Aldo Salazar - Chairman, Senate Select Committee
"I really want specifics, did they say they would get back to you and never did? Did they say they weren't going to give it to you outright?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"No they didn't say that, they say that they couldn't find the records, that the records were with Ms. Marin and they would go and ask Ms. Marin. When they went and ask Ms. Marin they came back and told us that Ms. Marin said the records was with the minister or with the ministry."

Hon. Elena Smith - Labour/Civil Society Senator
"The hesitation to provide documents that you've requested occurred would you say throughout the entire process?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"Not throughout."

Hon. Elena Smith - Labour/Civil Society Senator
"So you got some when requested but they were others you need that you did not get?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"Yes that we did not get."

Hon. Elena Smith - Labour/Civil Society Senator
"Did you get those at any other point in time maybe after?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"No."

Hon. Mark Lizarraga - Business Senator
"Are these documents that were requested and that you did not receive in that list that you sent to us of documents requested and not received?"

Carla Faber - Senior Auditor
"Yes."

Aldo Salazar - Chairman, Senate Select Committee
"Is that your understanding that some documents were not provided because they were unavailable or is it your understanding that there was hesitation to provide documents or an unwillingness to provide certain documents or was it a mix of the two?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"I would have to say hesitation because we don't know if they didn't have it then they could have said something to us."

From there, the Committee questioned the two auditors to explain why they also felt aggrieved by the sudden exit of one of their audit team members. He was a staffer at the Central Information Technology Office, and his role was very valuable to the audit. He was able to extract information from the Immigration Department’s passport system, and he gave the audit team a level of oversight over details and information they were given verbally, and in hardcopies. But, during the course of the audit, he went away on training in Taiwan. Here’s the auditors explaining why they don’t see his exit as anything normal:

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Even before he left we had some encounters with his reporting to us."

Hon. Dr. Carla Barnett - UDP Senator
"In what sense can you specify?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Some days he just would not be there and I would or Ms. Faber would call and the response would be oh my director isn't here I can't leave and then I have to remind him that you're assigned to this audit. That kind of..."

Hon. Dr. Carla Barnett - UDP Senator
"Can you tell us who the officer who was assigned was please, just for our information?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Mr. Francisco Gonzales."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"Did you indicate to the financial secretary the extent to which this audit was impacted by the withdrawal of this officer?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"And what did the financial secretary do to ensure that you were able to perform the audit to the standard required?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"After expressing my concern that was it."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"So a little bit of sympathy and concern is what you got?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"Yes."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"No one replaced an officer Gonzales?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"No."

Hon. Eamon Courtenay - PUP Senator
"Is it correct to say that the level at which this audit was conducted was affected negatively by the withdrawal of this officer?"

Dorothy Bradley - Auditor General
"It was affected because I got complaints from Ms. Faber citing her concerns that we would not be able to continue to extract information from the system the way we were getting it and it was really helpful because what we did not get when requesting information from the department we used the manual files we had and then we used the system to run both and then extract what we could not find. But once we did not have that it was very difficult for us to continue."

The Auditor General told the committee that she did not seek a replacement because the sensitivity of the information in the audit. She did not want it getting out, and so she and her audit team found ways to work around the handicap.

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