Exclusive: Shakshak to Qaderbouh — Ignoring Legislation Exposes You to Accountability; We Avoided Embarrassing You for Not Understanding It

Our source exclusively obtained a letter from the President of the Audit Bureau, Khaled Shakshak, addressed to the Head of the Administrative Control Authority, Abdullah Qadurbouh, regarding the closing of the state’s final accounts.

Shakshak said: “Clarifying the obvious of a scandalous matter, especially discussing basics, we avoided putting a sovereign oversight institution in embarrassment due to its apparent misunderstanding of the financial and accounting oversight legislations, also known as public finance.”

He continued: “Preparing the final accounts is an original responsibility of the government through the Ministry of Finance. The Audit Bureau’s role lies in reviewing and commenting on them, while the Administrative Control Authority’s role is to follow up on Ministry of Finance employees and executive bodies through accountability and investigation to ensure their performance of duties, including preparing the final accounts. Undoubtedly, if this is achieved, it will positively impact achieving the goal, considering technical obstacles and problems away from the financial oversight outside the Authority’s jurisdiction.”

He added: “I have continuously urged the government to close the state’s final accounts through many correspondences, meetings, and annual reports issued by the Audit Bureau due to its great importance to assess the state’s financial situation. Moreover, the last final account received by the Audit Bureau was for the fiscal year 2009, which was reviewed and commented on.”

Shakshak concluded to Qaderbouh: “Your stubbornness and non-compliance with the effective legal legislations, your failure to abide by the rulings of the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, and other judgments in disputes, especially those raised by the Head of the Administrative Control Authority in his capacity — rulings that favored the Audit Bureau — expose you to legal and criminal accountability according to the Penal Code and the Law on the Reorganization of the Supreme Court.”