Praneeta Prakash 
The Sugar Industry Tribunal admits that lack of staff, frequent resignations, and limited funding have made it difficult to keep up with its financial reporting.
According to Tribunal Registrar and Industrial Commissioner Timothy Brown, several accountants left the organization over the years, making it hard to complete accounts on time.
He highlighted this during the Standing Committee on Public Accounts on the 2021-2022 Audit Report on Statutory Authorities, Independent Bodies, and Commissions.
Brown says the tribunal is behind on several years of financial statements, with the 2021 report only just submitted for audit and work on the 2022 and 2023 accounts still ongoing.
“We’re going through one accountant after the other. And when one leaves, the person that’s coming in has to go through the system and learn the system. And then we’ve had these 2016 accounts sitting with us. And that was real, and we’re trying to get that done. It’s not that we didn’t try, but then we needed the professional assistance, and we didn’t have the budget.”
Brown says to help fix the backlog, the tribunal hired a chartered accountant who had previously worked with them.
However, committee member Alvick Maharaj raised concerns about whether this was done through a proper tender process, which is required by law.
Brown says the tribunal will follow the proper process in the future.
He also assures that they are doing everything possible to finish all pending accounts this year.
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