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UN
probe clears PwC of all charges The Sunday Times broke the story in April 2005 that Sri Lanka's Attorney General had accused the accounting firm of misconduct in the sale of a large public entity, the Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (now Sri Lanka Insurance) two years ago, and that the UN was preparing to investigate the conduct of the accounting firm. The Attorney General had said that PwC was guilty of "negligent acts" and "wilful professional misconduct" in the sale of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation. The UN has now said that its investigations into PwC revolved around five charges mainly stemming from the participation of Mr. Rodrigo in a specially-appointed Steering Committee to assist the Government of Sri Lanka to privatise the Insurance Corporation while being Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and being a member of the Monetary Board. PwC had been awarded the contract to be the financial and legal adviser to the Government in the privatisation process, while PwC's senior partner Mr. Rodrigo had been a member of the Steering Committee that selected his firm. The UN has exonerated Mr. Rodrigo of this charge of conflict by saying that he had disclosed the interest of his firm "promptly" in his firm's offer of its services to the Government, and took no further part in the selection process. The UN cleared Mr. Rodrigo of this charge also by saying that there was an independent technical evaluation of the proposal, and that Mr. Rodrigo did not participate in this exercise. The second charge was that Mr. Rodrigo being Chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and therefore a member of the Government's tsunami relief work, exercised undue influence in co-ordinating the spending of tsunami funds. The UN held that there was no specific allegation that he had done so. On the third charge that as a member of the Monetary Board, Mr. Rodrigo could divert tsunami funds, the UN held that he had no operating authority to do so. On the fourth charge that an employee involved in the privatisation process of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation, had accepted a job as a partner of PwC - the financial and legal adviser in that process - the UN held that the lady concerned was only a Secretary of the Steering Committee (of which Mr. Rodrigo served) and therefore could not "deliver" because she had no voting rights. On the fifth and final charge of professional misconduct on the part of PwC on a censure by the country's Attorney General, the UN held that these censures were merely "notices of potential claim and they carry no penalty or finding of professional misconduct". The Sunday Times on hearing that the UN has cleared PwC of allegations of conflict-of-interest published a brief news item in its city edition of August 14, but the UN has refused to confirm -or deny - or make public its findings. This comes in the wake of an announcement by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the wake of the tsunami tragedy that there shall be complete transparency when it comes to auditing the millions of dollars pledged for tsunami relief work. Mr. Rodrigo reacting to the report said that he fully agreed to the findings and they would continue to carry on with their work related to audit work of UN tsunami funds. Why
is UN silent? Asked why no official statement was issued by the UN despite the fact that two senior investigators had arrived from New York, the spokesman said that the UNDP in Sri Lanka had been asking the same question from their New York headquarters. |
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