Chartered accountant Mark Hulse will conduct the forensic audit of the DFC. The Ministry of Finance has agreed to engage him, the end of a process that started 17 months ago, in February of 2005. At that time, through school shutdowns, strikes, and civil unrest, the National Trade Union Congress forced government to agree to a 10 point agreement. Included in that was that the Prime Minister would appoint a commission of inquiry into the DFC, supported by a forensic auditor. The agreement specified that the auditor must be from a foreign firm.
Government later said it couldn't afford that, and early this year, the unions compromised, agreeing to let a local firm conduct the audit. Government dragged its feet for a few months after that, and in July started advertising for accounting firms to submit bids for the job. Well, the news tonight is that 5 months later, the firm of Mark C. Hulse has been selected, by the Ministry, after consultation with the unions.
And the sweet spots and hard knocks of mortgage securitization shouldn't be completely new to him. Hulse came to public prominence when he was hired to conduct a controversial special audit of the Social Security Board's investment activities in 2005. His audit was in support of the Social Security probe conducted by the Senate Special Select Committee.
But while the Senate Special Select Committee had Hulse's audit to inform its deliberations, the Commission of Inquiry doesn't have that luxury. The commissioners requested the audit before the public hearings, to inform their deliberations and questioning, but when it was not forthcoming, Chairman David Price decided to proceed without it. Now, it seems the forensic audit will not start until after those hearings have been concluded.
Accepting government's timeline, the remaining commissioners have agreed to fast track the commission's work, compressing what would have been four weeks of hearings into three weeks. Closed door "in camera" sessions are being held this week, and the public hearings resume next week.
To get them finished by December 21st, they will be held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for the next two weeks. The hearings will be aired live on Channel 7.
