The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament yesterday sent back a delegation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Committee chairperson Mark Bottomani confirmed the development, saying the committee sent back the delegation because the secretary for Foreign Affairs did not show up for the meeting.
“The controlling officer did not inform us that he would not attend. You have to understand that he was scheduled to respond to audit queries, some of which are very serious. This includes audit queries relating to the embassies and other foreign missions,” he said.
The chairperson, however, stressed that he did not doubt the competence of the official delegated to respond to the queries but felt that the controlling officer should “own” the issues considering the severity of the audit queries raised by the auditor general.
Source:NPL
