Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Auditor General defends strong allegations on Premier’s Office

Auditor General defends strong allegations on Premier’s Office

Auditor General, Sonia Webster, has refuted charges that she was unnecessarily excessive with the language used in her audit reports of the government’s COVID-19 stimulus grants last year.

Webster suggested in her audit report of the farmers and fisherfolk relief programme that monies were essentially claimed under false pretence. For example, the audit found that some fisherfolk recipients received money even though they didn’t have finishing boats.

But Sir Geoffrey Cox, who represents government ministers on behalf of the Attorney General, rubbished this idea.

“The language that has been used in this report is excessive and goes beyond the facts that existed before the Auditor General,” Sir Geoffrey told the Auditor General during a recent Commission of Inquiry (COI) hearing.

“As I’m trying to say, Madam Auditor General, I don’t want you to think for a moment that I disagree with much of what you’ve said about the availability of material. The point that I’m seeking to make is that your language when you carried out checks on the farmers [and fisherfolk but] … your reason to the Commissioner was that you couldn’t find the [fishing] boats. Well, all I’m asking is, why not simply contact those crew members to ascertain what the facts were?” Sir Geoffrey asked Webster.

Auditor General should have done due diligence


He suggested that her office should have explored the claims in a more detailed fashion before making an “allegation that clearly implies — potentially, at least — fraudulent conduct”.

“Before an auditor makes the suggestion … a check should be made to ensure that suggestion is safe. Of course, an auditor might well point out the anomalies.”

He also claimed that the Premier’s Office checked on the said anomalies to verify that the claims farmers and fishers made to get stimulus was indeed real.

However, the Auditor General stood by her findings.

“It’s basically your word against the records that we have checked and verified that these people do not own boats. “It’s your words against the records that are contained in Agriculture Department,” Webster said in response to Sir Geoffrey’s claim.

“We sent to the Premier’s Office a draft report that they had for almost a month. They had the opportunity to come back to us and say, ‘hey, this is not the case’. They did not do that. So they cannot at this stage come to us and say, ‘well, you know, this is wrong’. They had an opportunity for a month to come back to us,” she added.

Webster called the attorney’s suggestions and line of questioning ‘reckless’ and said there was no evidence anywhere to support his claims.

But Sir Geoffrey said the reality is that an exercise had been done, and some persons, according to the Premier’s Office, confirmed they have other vessels laid up for various reasons.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×