Auditor-General confirmed in post

The House of Representatives yesterday unanimously approved a motion for Joseph G. Galea to serve as auditor-general for a second five-year term. The appointment needed the approval of at least two-thirds of the members of the House.

The motion was moved by the prime minister and seconded by Labour MP Leo Brincat.

Dr Fenech Adami said he had discussed the re-appointment with Opposition leader Alfred Sant.

Mr Brincat confirmed that the opposition agreed with Mr Galea's appointment and praised Mr Galea for his integrity.

He regretted that there was no agreement on an appointment for the post of deputy auditor-general. The post had been vacant for more than a year and a person suggested by Dr Sant had been rejected by the government. The opposition felt it had nominated a person of integrity who had experience in this sector.

The Labour MP said that the office of the auditor-general needed to be more pro-active, investigating allegations of financial irregularities in the public service reported in the press.

He also felt that parliament should not only debate the budget of the office, but also its future plans.

The office also needed the facilities and manpower so that it could promptly provide updates of the government's financial state. A future Labour government upon taking office, would engage a team of independent private auditors to provide an X-ray of the financial state of the outgoing government, including public corporations. This work could not be done by the office of the auditor-general, given its limited resources. Indeed it had taken the office six months just to come up with an audit requested by the Public Accounts Committee on the restoration centre.

Dr Lawrence Gonzi, leader of the House said the experiment of the auditor general as an officer of parliament had become a fruitful experience. While the office needed to continue to be strengthened, he could say that such progress had already been made. The major problem was that it was not easy to recruit personnel with the required expertise.

Winding up, Dr Fenech Adami said that when the post of deputy auditor general became vacant, he had proposed a name to Dr Sant. The leader of the opposition had not expressed himself on that nominee but suggested somebody else who could not be accepted, particularly because of the motivations mentioned by Dr Sant. He would however discuss the appointment with Dr Sant once more.