She said she doesn't know the intent—but is it that Belize's Supreme Audit Institution is being instrumentalized by the political directorate? The Leader of the Opposition in a recent statement said quote, "It is… particularly concerning that the Prime Minister found it necessary… to publicly instruct the Office of the Auditor-General to conduct an audit into the Mira family-related contracts. That raises serious red flags for transparency, accountability, and the independence of our oversight institutions." End quote.
Today she told us that they were going to audit the Ministry of Defence regardless:
Jaleeza Roberts, Reporter
"The Leader of the Opposition had said that the Office of the Auditor-General is constitutionally enshrined and that you are free to act on your own instinct and volition if you choose, but it seems to her that you are acting at the instruction of the Cabinet Executive. What would you respond to her saying this?"
Maria Rodriguez, Auditor-General - Office of the Auditor-General
"As mentioned earlier regarding the defence audit, it was already in our audit plan. Nobody has to tell me that I have to go in; it was already part of our audit plan. I don't act on instructions from anyone. I believe that public outcry was more than enough for our office to know that we need to come in. So, no, I don't believe I act on the instructions of anyone, no Cabinet, and in fact, I can tell you that nobody has called me from the Cabinet to ask me about this audit or to ask me anything about it or to even go through it. It was a request from the Financial Secretary."
