Three weeks after Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was told that a parliamentarian owed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs US$1,246 for the last 17 years, committee members are yet to be told the name of the offender and whether or not the money has been repaid.

The individual was incorrectly identified as a Member of Parliament, PAC chairman Dr Omar Davies said last week stating it was important that the correct information was presented as someone’s reputation could be damaged for life.

“As it turned out the individual is not a Member of Parliament,” Dr Davies stated.

However, it was unclear whether or not permanent secretary Evadney Coy’s promise that the PAC would get a status report two weeks later had materialised, as members said that questions on the matter remained unanswered.

Three weeks ago the PAC was told that US$1,246 (less than J$100,000) has been owed since 1993. The sum was given by way of a United States dollar cash advance to the mystery parliamentarian.

The purpose for the advance remained undetermined and efforts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to collect the outstanding sum over the years have been unsuccessful.

Auditor General Pamela Munroe Ellis in her annual report tabled December 2009 identified the total amount in advances to be recovered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Jamaica’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (PRUN) New York as US$11,176. This includes the US$1, 246, which went to the parliamentarian.

Another unexplained benefit of US$3,773 to another unidentified individual up to March 2009 was also included.

“We’ve had since 1993 advances which have not been cleared. The amounts for 1993 are for the large part owed by a colleague government department and a Member of Parliament. We are not able to state at this point what was the last attempt made by my ministry to clear these advances, but having had that information provided by late yesterday we have not begun to research the records to see what happened, why we have not been able to clear these amounts,”Ambassador Coy said.

Only US$360 of the more than US$11,000 outstanding has been collected, leaving a balance of $US$10,816 according to the Auditor General.

Committee member Tarn Peralto demanded to know who owed the money and a rare occasion for agreement stood as all members wanted to know the debtor.

But Ambassador Coy, who is the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accepted an opportunity presented by Davies not to name the individual.

“Let’s be careful. Are you certain? Is it verified that this occurred and you have name and number right and all that?” Davies jumped in.

“Mr chairman, I do have the name but I don’t think I should (give it),” she said in response to Peralto who demanded to know the individual’s name.

“Can we have the name of that member, that Member of Parliament that she referred to?” Peralto pressed.

Coy said that the investigation was incomplete but committee member Everald Warmington chided her for raising the matter if her investigation was incomplete.

Davies said that for a host of reasons there was need for great care until the information was verifiable.

In one of his rare appearances, Laurence Broderick said that 17 years was a long time to verify anything.

PAC member Andrew Gallimore also tried in vain to get a name.

“Although we can certify to whom the advances were made, because I have not personally seen the documentation as to the efforts which have been made to recover the money, is why I do not wish to make a statement on the matter Sir,” Coy said.

“In the discussion, before we came in we said that on the list of advances some of them could be embarrassing for some persons. We do not wish to make a statement until we have reviewed to see what efforts my ministry has made over the years to recover the monies,” she added.

Coy asked for two weeks to meet with the debtors, admitting that the situation was very embarrassing.

Other missions with outstanding sums include the High Commission in London, which showed outstanding sums of £74,099, including £23,277 since March 2005, and the High Commission in Ottawa which had outstanding sums of CN$19,731 a significant portion of which has been recovered. Only CN$3, 221 of that sum was outstanding at the time of the AG report.

The Auditor General wants tighter control.

“There is a need for effective monitoring of advances as several balances had been on the Missions’ books since 1993… Failure to recover outstanding advances could result in the loss of public funds and the understatement of the mission’s reported expenditure. The AGD recommended that the outstanding advances be recovered in the shortest possible time,” Munroe-Ellis wrote in December 2009.