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HomeNewsArchivesTURNBULL: PFA AUDIT REPORT UNSEEN AS OF OCT. 17

TURNBULL: PFA AUDIT REPORT UNSEEN AS OF OCT. 17

Oct. 23, 2002 – In a release circulated Wednesday evening from Government House, Gov. Charles W. Turnbull issued a five-sentence statement concerning his review of the draft report of an audit of the Public Finance Authority by the Office of Inspector General.
The statement is as follows:
"Certain news reports in the print and broadcast media suggest that I misled the Virgin Islands public during an interview on Oct. 17 while appearing on TV2 with regard to reading the draft audit report on the Public Finance Authority. Let me again assure the Virgin Islands public that I had not seen the federal Inspector General's draft of the audit at the time of the interview.
"On Friday morning, Oct. 18, the day after the interview, I received a briefing from the director of finance and administration of the Public Finance Authority, Mr. Kenneth Mapp, and chief of staff, Mrs. Juel T.R. Molloy, and other staff members on the audit in question. At that time I reviewed the draft response, agreed with its contents and signed it.
"There is nothing untrue with my statement on Thursday evening, and I stand by it."
For a summary of the draft report, along with comments critical of it made by Mapp on Tuesday, see Audit faults PFA for management, spending ills".
As a cover letter to the 30-page draft report, Arnold van Beverhoudt, regional audit manager for the Office of Inspector General, wrote to Turnbull in his capacity as chair of the PFA board of directors, with the letter copied to the "director of finance and administration, Public Finance Authority" — that it, Mapp.
The address used was 21 Kongens Gade, Charlotte Amalie, which is Government House.
The letter is dated Oct. 1. In it, van Beverhoudt asked that Turnbull respond to the report by Oct. 16, stating "concurrence or nonconcurrence with the findings and each recommendation, including specific reasons for any nonconcurrence." The governor's response, the letter continued, "should also provide information on actions taken or planned, including target dates and titles of officials responsible for implementation."
And, it said, "If a response is not received by the due date, the final report will be issued without benefit of your comments."
Turnbull's statement on Wednesday did not address why he had not seen the draft report as of Oct. 17, although he had been requested in a letter dated Oct. 1 to submit his response to it by Oct. 16.
The Wednesday statement from Government House also did not provide any indication of the contents of "the draft response" that he said he reviewed, agreed with and signed on Oct. 18.

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