personal attacks on the former Principal Auditor are regrettable and wrong.

⚠️ The GSD considers the two recent personal attacks on the former Principal Auditor are regrettable and wrong.

The first by the Chief Secretary is self-serving and regrettable for describing the 2019 audit report as ‘unjust but also deeply disrespectful’ in a Bulletin of Circulars (no 10 of 2025) to all public servants dated 11 July 2025, and the second by the Hon. Adolfo Canepa is simply wrong in suggesting that the recommendation for a Public Accounts Committee by the former Principal Auditor was political interference that should be admonished.

📣Roy Clinton MP the GSD Shadow Minster for Public Finance stated the following:

“In his 2019 Report the former Principal Auditor reflects on the “enormous difficulties, obstacles and delays”(para 5.5.29) he has encountered in obtaining information and documentary evidence from senior officials including the Chief Secretary. That similar observation is repeated on a number of occasions throughout his Report. Some of the difficulties he has encountered are striking, leading him to conclude that his constitutional role has been obstructed by senior officials and the political Government. This is very serious.

It is therefore self-serving in the extreme for the Chief Secretary to issue this Circular to undermine the
Principal Auditor’s conclusions under the guise of protecting public servants, who require no protection as they have not, as a collective, been the subject of criticism. Many public servants will have themselves been similarly shocked by the revelations in this Report and the Principal Auditor’s observations on unjustified or uncontrolled expenditure. As such we do not accept this Circular reflects a widely held view among public servants whose professionalism and integrity the GSD or indeed the Principal Auditor does not question.

Instead it simply seems to serve the interests of a politically bankrupt Government that is now on a determined campaign to undermine the Report and its author personally. The fact that the Circular was issued a day after the GSLP/Libs attacked the Report is suspect timing to say the least. It also seems to be a transparent attempt at distracting the public from the serious recommendations made by the Principal Auditor by seeking to discredit him. Again that is self-serving and wrong.

The role of Principal Auditor is an independent constitutional one which should be respected by politicians, serving civil servants or indeed former Speakers. Indeed that was the position of the Government itself in their press release of 22 April 2025. The Principal Auditor’s reports should be treated with the seriousness they deserve and command. He is not there to be “reprimanded” by anyone in the exercise of his duty under s74 of the Constitution. As for the Public Accounts Committee recommendation the Principal Auditor fairly reflects there is not a unanimously held view in Parliament on the subject (para 6.3.4). But as this is an issue that goes
to financial governance he is entirely within his role and power to express his position.

I would remind the Hon. Adolfo Canepa that he was against the creation of a Public Accounts Committee in
his January 2013 report by the Commission on Democratic and Parliamentary Reform despite noting that public feedback indicated that ‘in the main there has been support for a public accounts committee’. To suggest that the former Principal Auditor’s recommendation that the Gibraltar Parliament should create one is somehow political in nature is to ignore best practice in Parliamentary Financial Scrutiny. In the United Kingdom the National Audit Office work closely with the Public Accounts Committee to follow up reports and ensure action is taken to remedy financial deficiencies on a cross-party basis in the public interest.

I have taken motions twice to Parliament for the creation of a Public Accounts Committee, first on 7 October 2016 and secondly on 26 February 2024. Both were defeated by GSLP/Liberal majority. In 2024 I stated:

Gibraltar is the only UK Overseas Territory that does not have a public accounts committee. The UK
Overseas Territories Project that was established in 2016 by the UK CPA, UK National Audit Office
and the UK Government Internal Audit Agency produced a good practice guide for the effective
oversight of public finances in the UK Overseas Territories. The initial guide issued in February 2017
was updated comprehensively in November 2021.

📣It stated the following: An effective PAC is vital to the transparency of, and accountability for public expenditure.

The PAC’s key responsibilities are to scrutinise government expenditure and income, including issues
of economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and report the results of its scrutiny to Parliament. This is
usually achieved by reviewing the reports of the auditor general and calling witnesses to account for
their actions.

It is in this context that the former Principal Auditor has issued his recommendation to the Gibraltar Parliament for the creation of a Public Accounts Committee. This recommendation was made in the 2018, and again now in the 2019 report. I would respectfully remind the Hon. Adolfo Canepa that the Principal Auditor, although an Officer of Parliament, does not report to nor is answerable to the Speaker for the content of his report.”