Improvement in govt’s response to OPA recommendations noted

The Public Auditor has noted a major improvement in the way the CNMI government responds to its recommendations which was primarily brought about by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio’s move to establish the Audit Coordinating Council.

“There have been major improvements in the delivery of action by the CNMI government through the audit council on the recommendations that we make in our audit reports,” said Public Auditor Leo LaMotte in an interview.

Mr. LaMotte said OPA noticed that the government started taking fast-tracked action on its recommendations since the governor created the Audit Coordinating Council headed by Finance Secretary Lucy Nielsen.

“We are happy about this development because major actions have been taken by the Tenorio Administration in most of the things that we recommended need further improvement,” he said.

However, the public auditor stressed that OPA does not expect all of its recommendations to be immediately acted upon by the government or any of its agencies.

In fact, the number of delinquent recommendations issued by OPA soared 18 percent to 181 in 1999 from the previous year’s 153, indicating several government agencies’ apparent neglect in taking prompt action to address financial loopholes.

The finance department topped the Public Auditor’s list of CNMI government agencies that are unable to act on the several recommendations it issued last year.

DOF failed to take action on at least 50 recommendations issued by the OPA in its 18 audit investigation reports for the agency in 1999, while the Department of Public Safety failed to address 11 loopholes identified by the Public Auditor in its report.

The Commonwealth Ports Authority and the Department of Lands and Natural Resources are still to act on 10 recommendations each by the OPA. OPA conducted five audit investigations for CPA and three for the DLNR last year.

But Mr. LaMotte explained that 19 of the 76 audit recommendations issued by the OPA in 1998 became delinquent last year which contributed to the increase in the number of derelict recommendations in 1999.

This does not include the nine new recommendations issued by the Public Auditor in 1999, with which government agencies failed to take action on.

Mr. LaMotte noted progress in the implementation of the recommendations issued by the OPA from 1994 to 1997, with a total of 57 delinquent recommendations now considered closed.

At the same time, OPA reported the government can actually recover only $612,821 of the total $869,641 amount of money, which were initially identified by the public auditor as recoverable.

The public auditor issued 14 audit reports in 1999 to various CNMI government agencies, 13 of which resulted to a total of 28 recommendations, according to the OPA report.

This is in addition to the 284 outstanding recommendations at the beginning of the year, making a total of 312 recommendations tracked for the year.

Of the 312 audit recommendations, 118 were closed and 194 remained either open or resolved. Of the 194 open or resolved recommendations, 181 were considered delinquent.

Mr. LaMotte said OPA conducts between 15 and 28 audits in a year, excluding full investigations which are eventually referred to the Attorney General’s Office.

At present, OPA has 30 auditors, including two interns, five investigators, two administrative staff and two legal counsel.