Justice Minister John Hogan says he accepts the recommendations in an audit of the High Sheriff’s office. But he’s “pushing back” against the conclusion that departmental oversight was lacking.
Auditor General Denise Hanrahan delivered her report to the House of Assembly yesterday, then released it to media.
It concludes the department did not provide effective oversight of the High Sheriff’s Office, calling communication “informal and undocumented.”
Denise Hanrahan
She said a more formal process could solve that, but said ultimately it’s on the department to stay abreast and deal with issues as they arise.
“Part of it is the responsibility of staff, but the other side of it I think from my point of view deals with the fact that the department has oversight of the entity,” she said. “So if the entity is having issues and can’t fulfill their role, then the department needs to act.”
Minister Hogan responded late yesterday afternoon.
“We did push back to the auditor general in her report about oversight. We do feel there’s a high level of oversight between the department of justice and with the office. Our assistant deputy minister meets with the High Sheriff on a monthly basis to review what’s happening down there so we’re always in constant contact about any issues that arise and how they can be dealt with in a timely manner.”
Many of the issues identified in the audit, such as missing financials for four years, were linked to the elimination of a financial operations manager in 2017.
