CitCo Audit Revisited, Mayor Bradley Responds to Media Grilling

Darrell Bradley

Just two weeks before municipal elections, Mayor Darrell Bradley has come under some heat over the finances of the City Council. It’s all about the findings of an audit report for the period 2013 to 2014. To break it down, the Council has been audited in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Where the audit of 2012 was concerned, the auditors had an adverse opinion, stating that they could not get an accurate picture of the Council’s finances. The 2013 audit is incomplete, since the auditors have not been able to provide a copy of their findings and an opinion. So that’s led to the criticism that based on that backdrop, the figures in the 2014 audit have to be questioned. So today we were back at the Mayor’s office to drill him about a topic which is certainly not on his list of favorites.

Darrell Bradley, Belize City Mayor

“An audit has to start somewhere. The audit for 2012…let me make this point first of all. We are talking about audits and I like this discussion because this is the first time that any mayor has done any audit of the City Council. But when you do an audit for the 2012 fiscal year, the auditor had to start to with something. He didn’t start with an audit; he has to start with your financial statements which are also on our website. So that when that person did the 2012 audit, they started with what the City Council had. When the person did the 2013 audit, they continued from the 2012 audit. When the person did the 2014 audit, they continued from whatever information was produced by the previous auditor, even if it was not a final report. And we have a completed 2014 audit, which is done by an independent person. So if you are saying that person doesn’t have information or whatever that’s not reflected. The audit is done not from somebody else’s opinion. When those auditors are here, they campout in our organization for about two months. they look through all our records, they reconcile our bank statements; it is really a very arduous process. So when that person, each audit is an independent exercise to verify our accounts at City Hall. So I don’t know what one will say when you have a 2014 audit and the auditor mentions and gives an opinion in relation to our financial position for 2014.”