FinSec says red flags should have been seen in the payment to Mira relatives

Financial Secretary Joseph Waight confirmed today that the Finance Officer who was attached to the Ministry of Defence up to October 2024 has been placed on administrative leave pending ongoing investigations.  The development comes as government auditors and financial officials continue to examine millions of dollars in payments made to businesses connected to members of the Mira family. Recent reviews of leaked SmartStream records have revealed hundreds of invoices, many of them falling just below key financial oversight thresholds, prompting concerns about whether established procurement and payment procedures were deliberately circumvented.  Speaking on the matter, Waight stressed that the move should not be interpreted as a finding of guilt but rather as a standard administrative measure while investigations are underway.

Reporter: Do financial officers fall under you as the financial secretary? 

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary: “That’s a good question. They report to the accounting officer who is the CEO. The accounting officer reports to us.”

Reporter: In the case of this financial officer in the Ministry of Defense during these payments, what has become of that financial officer? 

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary:  “Well, we wait to see what the audit report to see if there’s anything that is highly regular and then we take it from there. In the meantime I understand he was on leave. I’m not sure.”

Reporter: On administrative leave? 

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary: “Yeah, but that’s only for a short period of time. And then I think voluntarily leave but I don’t know. I don’t know. I know administrative leave is a very short period of time. Nobody has said that there is fraud. Yet, I mean, we have to see what the audit report comes up with. But it does look suspicious.”

Waight has also suggested that the issues uncovered thus far may serve as a wake-up call for the wider public service. He noted that while the spotlight is currently focused on the Ministry of Defence, other ministries may wish to undertake their own reviews of internal payment systems and controls to ensure that similar vulnerabilities do not exist elsewhere across government.

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary: “We certainly can ask accounting officers to do some homework in the ministry to see if there’s anything happening. I don’t know. You know, sometimes when you stay behind your desk for too long you get a little detached from what is happening out there. But then again, it depends on where in the process you are, where in the sequence. Ministry of Finance doesn’t watch payments going out the door. We watch contracts and award of contracts and award of contracts and so.”

For now, the placement of the former Ministry of Defence Finance Officer on administrative leave represents the first known public officer to be placed on leave on this matter.