00:00The Senate meets at 10 a.m. and the House of Representatives will meet at 1.30 in the
00:06afternoon.
00:07The order papers released by the Parliament for both Houses indicate among papers to be
00:12laid in both Houses is the Auditor General's special report.
00:18This report is a follow-up to the 2003 report and is expected to address the over $2.6 billion
00:25understatement in the substantive document.
00:29Following the debacle involving the 2023 report, the Finance Minister in Parliament
00:34criticised Auditor General Jaywanti Ramdas for not accepting data substantiating the
00:41billions in question after the deadline date and refusing to meet with ministry officials.
00:47Ramdas contended the deadlines had passed, the documents were backdated and when her
00:53team conducted a two-day visit to the Treasury, the information could not be supplied.
00:58The minister at that time refused to lay her report and instead brought a bill to Parliament
01:04to extend her deadline.
01:06A change of heart later saw the laying of the report and a commitment that the special
01:11report will be compiled.
01:13In the meanwhile, Minister Imbood sought to launch a probe to determine exactly what happened.
01:19The investigative committee led by retired Judge David Harris was to conduct a probe
01:25into Ramdas and her office.
01:27But that probe was put on hold after the Appeal Court in June this year ruled Ramdas does
01:34have a case to be heard.
01:36She contended the investigation into her office is unconstitutional and illegal because neither
01:42the Finance Minister Kom Imbood nor the Cabinet has jurisdiction to probe the conduct of the
01:49Auditor General.
01:50Ramdas was appointed to office in November 2023.
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