Pierre rejects SSDF claims, says UWP completed zero audits

Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre has pushed back against claims about missing audited financial statements at the Saint Lucia Social Development Fund (SSDF) by shifting the focus to the previous United Workers Party (UWP) administration.

Speaking at Monday’s Pre-Cabinet Press Briefing, Pierre denied that no audits have been done since the Saint Lucia Labour Party returned to office, describing the claim as a “falsity of the highest order”.

He said the most recent audits, for the 2016/17 and 2017/18 financial years, were only finished in March 2023, almost two years after the new government took office.

Pierre said this means that no SSDF audits were completed while the UWP was in office from 2016 to 2021.

“All during the tenure of the present leader of the opposition as Minister of Finance, he has not prepared one set of financial statements for the SSDF,” Pierre said.

The Prime Minister said the current SSDF board began tackling the outstanding financial statements after taking office, but had trouble finding supporting documents for some of the years that followed.

He explained that these missing documents made it difficult to prepare statements for the years under the previous administration, so the board and auditors decided to move forward with qualified financial statements.

In simple terms, a qualified audit means auditors found issues or missing information that prevented them from fully verifying the financial records.

Pierre said the aim now is to move beyond the outstanding years, with auditors working towards producing unqualified, or clean, audits for the more recent financial periods. This would mean the auditors are satisfied that the financial statements fairly reflect the organisation’s finances, without significant issues requiring qualification. According to Pierre, the board hopes to finish this process by the end of 2026.

The Prime Minister responded after Opposition Leader Allen Chastanet criticised the SSDF’s financial reporting. Pierre said Chastanet raised these concerns outside Saint Lucia by writing to embassies, foreign partners, international organisations and entities like the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). Pierre argued that this could damage the country’s reputation and its relationships with international partners.

“The entire world has been told that my government failed to prepare the financial statements,” he said. “Here you have a gentleman who was leader of a country writing a falsity when he himself, who was Minister of Finance for five years, never prepared financial statements.”

Pierre also sought to draw a distinction between the absence of completed audited financial statements and the SSDF’s reporting to its funding organisations.

He said he was told that reports on the Basic Needs Trust Fund were sent to the CDB every year, while donors, including Taiwan, received reports detailing how their contributions to the SSDF were used.

“Anyone who has contributed to SSDF has got a report on how the money was used,” Pierre said.

He still urged people to be careful when talking about the SSDF in public, noting its work with vulnerable communities and its programmes to reduce poverty and help young people.

“I know what the SSDF means to the people of this country,” Pierre said, describing it as “a very important organisation”.

The Prime Minister also disclosed that after taking office in 2021, he ordered a separate report into the SSDF but had not made it public. He said his decision was influenced by concerns about the potential impact on the organisation and its ability to attract funding. Nonetheless, Pierre said the SSDF keeps reviewing its work and making improvements where necessary.

The article Pierre rejects SSDF claims, says UWP completed zero audits is from St. Lucia Times.