The CFT says the Government of St. Maarten is like a child who is always late for school, yet that child always has an excuse for being late. They made the statement when explaining the constant lateness with presenting the annual budgets. The Audit Chamber of St. Maarten recently dispatched a letter to Parliament and the Council of Ministers informing them that basic budget procedures are not being respected. The Prime Minister of St. Maarten acknowledged receipt of the letter but said the Council of Ministers did not respond to the Audit Chamber as yet.
The CFT feels that the Minister of Finance is not able to keep government books in order since they said the bookkeeping is in real shambles. The Ministry thus far provided a host of unreliable figures for 2009. The CFT already reported St. Maarten to the Kingdom Council of Ministers on March 30th when the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance failed to show up for a video conference.
The CFT is questioning the financial statements of 2009 where 82% of all receivables are written off, thus creating the impression that the Ministry is hiding information.
According to the report, the 2009 financial statement was submitted on March 11 2011 while this report was due since August 31 2010, while the 2008 balance sheet was not used because the figures are unreliable and unavailable.
So far, the government of St. Maarten did not submit a profit and loss statement to the CFT for the year 2009 simply because the figures are unreliable and unavailable.
The CFT states that the government's financial statements were not audited. They said that there is lack of budgetary controls and the country's finances are being managed on cash availability basis, and not based on the budgeted figures which create the impression that the budgeted revenues are not realistic. The CFT in their conclusion states that it appears as though government is not paying its bills or they are delaying the expenditures until 2012, both of which would have negative consequences for the country's finances.
The CFT also delivered a report on the 2011 budget which can be considered as a major blow to St. Maarten. In the report delivered to the Kingdom Council of Ministers, they addressed the external accounting firm that the Minister of Finance has hired instead of hiring credible staff for the finance department.
SMN News has been reliably informed that the Turn Over Tax payments that are made at the Receivers Office is not being recorded immediately. The source said that the TOT payments are booked at least one week after the payments are made and that the computer system is set backwards to make it appear as though these bookings were done when the receivers office receives the monies. The source said the outstandings at the Receivers office is around one billion guilders while the accounting system only has 100 million recorded of which 82% cannot be collected.
Click here to view the report submitted by the CFT.
