'Latty' hits back - Former BOJ governor accuses finance minister of going on fishing expedition

Edmond Campbell, Senior Staff Reporter

Former Bank of Jamaica governor, Derick Latibeaudiere, has challenged Finance Minister Audley Shaw to leave the protective cover of Parliament and tell what he knows about the so-called probe covering a decade of his tenure at the central bank. He has accused Shaw of going on a fishing expedition.

Shaw reported late last year in Gordon House that an audit conducted by the Public Accountability Inspectorate (PAI) in the Ministry of Finance on the former governor for the period 1999-2009 had to be sent for further work as a result of the seriousness of the findings.

In an interview with The Sunday Gleaner one year after parting company with the Bank of Jamaica, former governor, Derick Latibeaudiere, charged that he would not sit idly by and allow Shaw to destroy his credibility.

"I have worked a long time, and hard, and I have no intention of allowing somebody like Audley Shaw to just go out there and destroy my credibility like that," he declared.

Latibeaudiere also accused Shaw of using Parliament as a cover to make damning allegations about him.

"If there is something to be said, say it out of Parliament. When you say it out of Parliament, then let us see where we take it. Call a press conference and say it, and then that's where you should say it. Don't hide behind the cover of Parliament," Latibeaudiere declared.

"What is dangerous about it is that you may throw a net out there and misinterpret some issues, as people have done in the past, blow it out of all reasonable proportion, and I don't have the opportunity to defend myself," the former governor told The Sunday Gleaner.

Shaw had shared with his parliamentary colleagues that a Public Accountability Inspectorate (PAI) report by the Ministry of Finance against Latibeaudiere "was of such gravity that it had to be referred to the Financial Investigations Division (FID)".

The FID has since been combing through the report and conducting further investigation.

Last month, the minister indicated in Parliament that he could not make the findings of the PAI's audit public until further investigations were complete.

Checks and balances

Dismissing innuendoes that he had committed breaches at the institution, Latibeaudiere argued that the central bank was fortified with a plethora of checks and balances. He said the raft of safeguards at the bank would render as incredible any suggestions of wrongdoing on his part.

He reasoned that it would be an indictment on the institution if the PAI and any other "set of people" discovered gaps at the BOJ after sustained careful audits conducted by the Auditor General's Department, the bank's internal auditors, and its external auditor over the years.

Latibeaudiere is also taking the finance minister to task for suggesting that the PAI had placed its floodlights on him and not the institution.

"In any event, you can't audit a person," Latibeaudiere stated.

This general approach was supported by a senior auditor at the Auditor General's Department who told The Sunday Gleaner that in conducting audits, the agency did not make an individual the centre of the probe. However, he said in carrying out an audit of an institution, any irregular activity involving an individual would be highlighted in the report.

"The governor does not sign cheques; he does not grant contracts. There is a contracts committee at the bank. The bank has a number of deputy governors and a financial controller. The bank has an audit department that carries out a monthly audit," Latibeaudiere explained.

He said the action taken by the Ministry of Finance betrayed a fundamental lack of understanding of how proper institutions operated.

Years of dedication

Retracing his 13 years and seven months at Nethersole Place as governor, Latibeaudiere seemed perplexed that he was being probed after dedicating so many years to building the institution.

"I have gone through in my head, day in, day out, and say you don't draw cheques, you are not involved in the day-to-day maintenance of a property, nothing happens that is not within a contractual procedural obligation, you don't entertain, you don't make claims on the bank for money, you don't have credit cards issued by the bank," a puzzled-looking Latibeaudiere recounted.

"Every expenditure that is undertaken has to be documented and justified."

Questioning the modus operandi of the Government, Latibeaudiere said even though the PAI had started its probe about a year ago, to date, no one had contacted him so that he could respond to concerns.

"In any event, I am ready and available for anyone to speak with me."

The former central bank governor is urging the administration to heed its own advice by ensuring that the principles of natural justice are not violated.

"If you make a statement out there and it is not correct, then for heavens sake, make sure of what you are saying because you can destroy somebody's legacy and destroy somebody's reputation," he cautioned.

'I have no intention of allowing somebody like Audley Shaw to just go out there and destroy my credibility like that.' - Latibeaudiere