The Principal Auditor’s report for 2018/19 was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday following controversy last week after the GSD revealed the overdue report had been completed on May 31 but not made public.
The GSD, which had repeatedly asked about publication of the delayed report, said too that the document had been delivered to Parliament on June 13 by the former Principal Auditor and could have been laid by the Speaker before the Budget debate 10 days later.
But the Speaker said the former Principal Auditor had already left his post by the time he delivered the report to Parliament, adding this raised important procedural issues that needed to be resolved before Parliament could action the report.
The wider context of the row was the GSD’s belief that the Government was delaying presentation of the audit report to avoid scrutiny and accountability as MPs debated the Budget.
At the time, Keith Azopardi, the Leader of the Opposition, called for the report to be published immediately, “otherwise all that is happening is that we all know a report exists but it isn’t being released to the public.”
He expressed concern too that he had not received a reply from the Parliamentary Office to his queries about the report, drawing a stern response from the Speaker who questioned the GSD’s “careless imputations” on parliamentary independence and integrity.
After the GSD’s revelations last week, the Speaker, Karen Ramagge, confirmed that the report was handed to Parliament on June 13 by the former Principal Auditor but that this was after he stepped down from the post on May 31 ahead of retirement.
That, she said, raised procedural issues that she was still clarifying when the GSD made the issue public.
On Tuesday, after the report was laid in Parliament by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, Ms Ramagge made a statement to the chamber having dealt with the matter in private “behind the Speaker’s chair” over the past few days.
“The public auditor did not deliver the report to Parliament on 13 June, 2025,” Ms Ramagge, a former judge of the Supreme Court, said.
“Mr X [the former Principal Auditor] brought that report in on 13 June, 2025.”
“That report was not accompanied by the usual 20 copies for laying.”
“Mr X left his post as Principal Auditor on 31 May 2025 with no holding over provisions.”
“He had the report in his possession for 13 days after vacating his post.”
“At the time he brought the report into Parliament, he was neither Principal Auditor nor an Officer of Parliament.”
“In the circumstances, Parliament was unable to accept and action the report without further investigation.”
“The current Principal Auditor was concerned that there should be proper process and for this reason on Friday 4 July he retrieved the report from Parliament.”
“The Principal Auditor has since validated the report and submitted it to the Clerk, who has caused it to be actioned immediately.”
