Sajith claims 20A erodes Auditor General’s independence

Friday, 18 September 2020 00:30 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sajith Premadasa

Executive Committee of Audit Service Association voices concerns to Opposition Leader
Sajith proposes to fix issue with ‘20 Plus’ and grant more powers to Audit Services Commission
Says number of Govt. institutions and key offices have been delisted from AG’s scope through 20A

Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa claimed that the proposed 20th Amendment erodes the independence of the Auditor General and delists his scope from a number of key Government Offices and institutions.

Premadasa stated that 20A removes the clause that affirms that the Auditor General is not a Government official and does away with the Audit Services Commission.

He also pointed out that the President’s Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Offices of Cabinet Ministers, Police and the Public Services Commission have all been removed from the audit list under the proposed 20A.

Issuing a statement following a meeting with the Executive Committee of the Sri Lanka Audit Service Association (SLASA) yesterday, Premadasa said that under the ‘20 Plus’ proposal he plans to secure the independence of the Audit Services Commission and the Auditor General’s office.

The post of Auditor General and the Audit Services Commission was established under Article 153 and 154 of the Constitution. This enabled an independent audit service to function under the purview of the Audit Services Commission and made the Auditor General answerable only to the Parliament, Premadasa stated.

Premadasa pointed out that the Auditor General and the Audit Services Commission performed a valuable role and strengthened the Parliament’s oversight and control of Government spending.

“The proposed 20th Amendment will remove 117 Government and public institutions and organisations valued at Rs. 1 trillion from being audited by the Auditor General,” Premadasa claimed, questioning the Government’s need to remove anti-corruption mechanism put in place to protect public funds.

“I advised the members of SLASA that under the ‘20 Plus’ proposal, no such barriers will be brought to constrain the Auditor General or the Audit Services Commission. We plan to fix some of the shortcomings of the 19th Amendment and allow the Audit Services Commission to audit all Government related institutions and organisations,” Premadasa stated. (AF)