The Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Dr. Dominic Ayine, has disclosed that the forensic audit into the National Cathedral project is nearing completion, with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) having undertaken substantial work on the assignment.
Speaking to the media during the Government Accountability Series on Monday, 22 December, Dr. Ayine explained that the audit was initiated at the directive of the President following consultations involving himself, the Auditor-General, and the Minister for Finance.
“After we met, and subsequently held discussions at the Ministry of Finance, it was decided that we should speedily engage a private audit firm to conduct the forensic audit,” he said.
Dr. Ayine clarified that the Office of the Attorney General does not procure non-legal services, noting that the audit process fell outside his mandate.
“I cannot procure a forensic audit. Usually, if I am procuring services, they will be legal services, and there is no precedent of an Attorney General procuring non-legal services,” he explained.
He added that since the exercise is a financial audit to be supervised by the Auditor-General, the Finance Minister tasked the Auditor-General with procuring the audit firm, which led to the selection of PwC.
According to the Attorney-General, PwC has made significant progress and is close to concluding its work.
“The last time I checked, they wrote to my office—this was last week—requesting a meeting with me to understand some issues that are germane to the audit work. They have done significant work and are getting to the end of their work,” he said.