THE Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will meet on November 13 at 10 am at the Red House to discuss the Auditor General's report on the public accounts for the 2023 financial year and a subsequent special report on these accounts that was provided by the Auditor General.

On November 7, the Privy Council dismissed an appeal by Finance Minister Colm Imbert and the Cabinet against the judicial permission given to Auditor General Jaiwantie Ramdass to pursue her lawsuit challenging a state-ordered probe of circumstances surrounding the auditing the 2023 public accounts and its submission to Parliament.

Five Privy Council law lords gave their immediate decision on Imbert's challenge of the reversal of the premature dismissal of her lawsuit.

The dispute between Ramdass and Imbert began in April, after the ministry sought to deliver amended public accounts to explain and rectify an error in which government revenue was understated to the original sum of $3.4 billion, and subsequently to $2.6 billion.

The statutory deadline to provide the accounts was January 31. Ramdass was given the first set of accounts for 2023, which was audited but not yet submitted, when she was told by the ministry that the first accounts were understated by $2.6 billion.

By statute, the Auditor General has to annually audit the public accounts provided by the ministry.

On April 15, the ministry sent new accounts which contained a significantly higher statement of revenue.

Ramdass initially refused to accept the second set of accounts, arguing her office had completed the audit, but relented after legal action was threatened. In her legal challenge, she claims she was bullied into accepting the second set of accounts.

Ramdass’ office audited the second set of accounts, but said her audit team could not reconcile the increase in revenue reported by the ministry. This was noted in the audit report submitted to Parliament on the 2023 accounts.

On May 7, the Finance Ministry announced the appointment of the investigative team to probe the understatement of revenue for the 2023 financial year. The team, led by retired judge David Harris, was selected to look into Ramdass’ response to the second set of accounts, her audit report statements, and any related matters, while making findings and recommendations.

On May 16, Ramdass’ legal team sought permission to have the court review the appointment of a team to investigate her, arguing this move was tainted by apparent bias and breached her constitutional protections. Her team argued that neither Imbert nor cabinet had the jurisdiction to probe the conduct of the Auditor General.

On June 21, Justice Westmin James refused her application. This was overturned by the Appeal Court in June. Ramdass was permitted to pursue her challenge before another judge. The investigation of Ramdass and her office was also stopped.

However, the Harris team was allowed to continue all other parts of its terms of reference.

In his ruling, James held that section 116(6) of the Constitution,