OPPOSITION Spokesman on Finance and Planning Audley Shaw has called on the Auditor General’s Department to carry out an immediate and urgent audit of expenditure under the Sugar Transformation Programme being carried out with funding from the European Union.

In making the call, Shaw cited Wednesday’s admission in Parliament by permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Donovan Stanberry, that he and other senior employees of the ministry had received loans under the Cane Expansion Fund of the Sugar Transformation Programme.

Shaw said that the auditor general needed to examine the state of affairs where the chief accounting officer, who must account to the Government and Parliament for funds expended in his ministry, was himself and other public officers in receipt of loans which are managed by the ministry.

“This is a … conflict of interest, and the minister of agriculture must now tell the country whether this scheme had his prior knowledge and approval,” Shaw said.

He also called the auditor general’s attention to the report of the agriculture ministry, which was sent to the Public Administration and Appropriations Committee (PAAC), which said that replanting activities under the Cane Expansion Fund were slow, “as the reflows from the Fund are insufficient to support current (loan) demand”.

Shaw wanted to know whether the fund, which was meant to be a revolving loan scheme, was now unable to meet demand due to the failure of recipients to pay back their loans from the proceeds of crop sales.

He also called on the auditor general to investigate the Springfield, Clarendon barracks relocation programme in which 88 housing units and supporting infrastructure were reportedly in an unsatisfactory state of affairs, with the flooring of some units breaking apart and reportedly sinking , while the roads which were constructed are already beginning to deteriorate.

Among the matters to be investigated would be “the award of contracts, allegedly to political cronies, and not by competitive tender; the substantial cost overrun on the infrastructure and housing; as well as the substandard work and consequent loss of value for money which is self-evident.”