I stand by the report, says Monroe Ellis

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

AUDITOR GENERAL Pamela Monroe Ellis is seemingly undaunted by sharp criticisms of her department's Information Systems Review Report by Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) officials.

In a Gleaner interview following a statement by ECJ commissioners on Friday, Monroe Ellis indicated that the 45-page findings and recommendations contained in the document can stand up to rigorous scrutiny.

"I stand by the report and I stand by the professionalism and competence of my auditors," Monroe Ellis told The Gleaner in the wake of comments by ECJ Chairman Professor Errol Miller that aspects of the report were gravely misleading.

"I went through that report with a micro-tooth comb," Monroe Ellis told The Gleaner as she remained resolute that her auditors had carried out a very careful and accurate information systems review of the ECJ.

No clean bill of health

The auditor general argued that the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) had never received a clean bill of health in the findings of all audits conducted by the AGD.

And, in the information systems review of the ECJ, the AGD stated that since the inception of the commission in 2006, the electoral body has not produced a set of audited financial statements.

In its 2007-2008 annual report to Parliament, the auditor general had said that financial statements for the EOJ for the years 2005-2006 to 2007-2008 were outstanding at the date of the report.

The report for the 2007-2008 period warned that the absence of audited financial statements constituted a breach of the law and prevented a proper assessment of the entity's financial status.

Four years later, the ECJ had not acted on the instructions of the AGD and failed to submit an audited financial statement to Parliament.