Cooper questions if terms of IMF’s COVID pandemic loan were violated

While calling for the government to make public which companies received COVID-19 pandemic funds, Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Deputy Leader Chester Cooper questioned yesterday whether the government violated the terms of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) rapid financing instrument (RFI) by not publishing the names of the beneficial owners of companies paid for pandemic-related goods and services.

Auditor General Terrance Bastian revealed in a recent audit report that the government did not disclose the beneficial owners of the companies were that were paid more than $63 million from the RFI last year.

The IMF’s executive board approved the $250 million RFI on June 1, 2020. Attached to the RFI were policy recommendations, one of which stated that, “Enhancing transparency by providing a separate reporting mechanism for COVID-19 expenditures, commissioning and publishing independent, third-party audits; and publishing all contracts as well as beneficial ownership information on companies that receive pandemic-related procurement contracts, will be critical.”

“What the Minnis administration must say is whether they violated the terms of the loan. The question now is will this prejudice future relationships with international multilateral institutions and adversely impact our standing in the world,” Cooper said in a statement yesterday.

“We have requested over and repeatedly for the terms of the IMF loan as taxpayer funds will be used to satisfy it. This appears to be the tip of the iceberg of what is clearly a culture of defiance in this administration when it comes to transparency and accountability.

“Little wonder that Transparency International says we are perceived as having become more corrupt over the past few years. The minister of finance must make public which companies received pandemic funds through an opaque procurement process, how much each company received and who owns those companies. Anything less flies in the face of transparency and public disclosure of spending of government funds.”

Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday that regulations are currently being drafted to make the Ministry of Finance compliant with its international obligations under the Register of Beneficial Ownership Act.

Cooper said that the Ministry of Finance is hiding behind a technical legal point on beneficial ownership when nothing prevents it from disclosing.

“The suggestion by the attorney general that the only way to supply the auditor general with the names of the beneficial owners of companies that received pandemic contracts funded by the $250 million IMF loan is to change the Register of Beneficial Ownership Act is laughable. In his own statement, he acknowledges his office could have provided the names and surely the minister of finance and the minister of state for finance, who were both present when the act was being debated, know that,” Cooper said in a statement yesterday.

“The Register of Beneficial Ownership Act was set up to ameliorate concerns by the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) that no person is able to hide their identity through the use of a Bahamian entity and possibly use that entity to shield their assets or use it for illicit activity. That the auditor general requests the names of the owners of the companies that received pandemic funds to comply with IMF standards is a separate issue.

“Nothing in law prevents the Ministry of Finance from obtaining this information directly from the companies and providing it to the auditor general and the IMF. Hiding behind a technical legal point on beneficial ownership is nonsense under the circumstances and secondary if they signed terms to the contrary.”

The post Cooper questions if terms of IMF’s COVID pandemic loan were violated appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/cooper-questions-if-terms-of-imfs-covid-pandemic-loan-were-violated/