The Cen­tral Bank’s ac­counts are no longer be­ing au­dit­ed by the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al.

That fact was dis­closed by the Cen­tral Bank on Fri­day, in re­sponse to a re­quest for in­for­ma­tion from the fi­nan­cial reg­u­la­tor and the Gov­ern­ment’s banker to com­ments by Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar last Thurs­day. She said that for a sec­ond year the Cen­tral Bank did not co­op­er­ate with the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al’s re­quest for in­for­ma­tion.

The Prime Min­is­ter said, “The Cen­tral Bank Gov­er­nor re­fus­es to di­vulge in­for­ma­tion. This is the same Cen­tral Bank Gov­er­nor who on two oc­ca­sions...with two suc­ces­sive Au­di­tor Gen­er­al’s re­ports has failed to pro­vide in­for­ma­tion to the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al.

“Re­mem­ber last year, when we had the $2.3 bil­lion miss­ing, it was be­cause the Cen­tral Bank did not re­lease in­for­ma­tion, or al­low the Au­di­tor (Gen­er­al) to get the ac­counts to do her work.

“It has hap­pened again. The Au­di­tor Gen­er­al’s re­port, which would be laid short­ly in the Par­lia­ment, it has hap­pened again.”

In re­sponse to the query from Guardian Me­dia, the Cen­tral Bank said, “The Au­di­tor Gen­er­al no longer func­tions as the ex­ter­nal au­di­tor for the Cen­tral Bank of T&T. The bank nonethe­less con­sid­ers the Of­fice of the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al to be an im­por­tant in­sti­tu­tion in con­tribut­ing to trans­paren­cy and good gov­er­nance of the fis­cal ac­counts.

“The Cen­tral Bank re­mains will­ing to pro­vide any in­for­ma­tion to the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al re­lat­ed to any spe­cif­ic dis­crep­an­cy in the fis­cal ac­counts.”

Ques­tioned on Fri­day about when and why the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al stopped be­ing the ex­ter­nal au­di­tor of the Cen­tral Bank, the bank re­spond­ed on Sun­day night, “BDO T&T is the ex­ter­nal au­di­tor of the Cen­tral Bank from the fi­nan­cial year be­gin­ning Oc­to­ber 1, 2023.”

There was no re­sponse to the ques­tion of why the Au­di­tor Gen­er­al no longer func­tions as the bank’s ex­ter­nal au­di­tor.

The Au­di­tor Gen­er­al au­dit­ed the Cen­tral Bank’s ac­counts for at least 14 years up to 2023.