Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, yesterday appealed to accounts to lead the fight against corruption.
"There are two levels of accountants; those who operate within the management accounting system and those who are the auditors. You are the first line of defence against corruption in public life. You must do the right thing. You have a major responsibility to take up the mantle against corruption," he said in the feature address at the 2016 Annual International Finance & Accounting Conference hosted by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of T&T (ICATT).
Young said it was amazing to see the "level of sophistication" in corruption.
"You need trained expert people to deal with it. When you allow corruption to be swept under the carpet, you are part of the problem. You have to take the lead and work with the authorities to reduce this problem. I don't think we can totally eradicate it but we can reduce it. But we have to work together to fight it," he said.
Young was a last-minute replacement for listed feature speaker, Portia Simpson-Miller, former Prime Minister and current Leader of the Opposition of Jamaica, who had to cancel the engagement as a result of Hurricane Matthew, which hit the country earlier this week.
The two-day conference at the Hyatt Regency, Port-of-Spain, is being attended by experts in finance and accounting who will deliver presentations under the theme Turnaround Prescriptions–Strategies for Success in Challenging Times.
Young said Government is taking all measures available to it to reduce corruption. He told the audience of more than 400 participants that Follow the Money legislation to be introduced in Parliament will put the onus on people who are "exceedingly wealthy beyond their means" to explain their wealth.
"If you see people in public life owning properties worth millions of dollars and have bank accounts in the millions and the mathematics doesn't add up and you can't explain how you got it, we will seize it," he said.
ICATT president Pria Narinesingh said the conference theme was a focal point for discussions "that are taking place in every street corner, in every business enterprise, in every boardroom."
"We readily accept that no one profession holds all of the answers and that success may very well lie in collaboration to tap into the turnaround prescriptions offered by some of the best minds in the business," said Narinesingh, the Country Managing Partner Trinidad of Ernst & Young.