I Have Been Denied The Opportunity For Supreme Court To Hear My Case -Lara Taylor Pearce

By Sahr Ibrahim Komba
The learned former Auditor General, Madam Lara Taylor Pearce has revealed in a press release that she was denied the opportunity for Supreme court to hear her case.
The former Auditor General, Lara Taylor Pearce and her Deputy, Tamba Momoh were suspended from office on 11th November, 2021 for alleged professional misconduct. The government of President Julius Maada Bio set up a Tribunal to look into the performance of the Auditor General and her Deputy.
Citing that the Tribunal hearings were public, she maintained that members of the public who were present at those sittings, are aware that the only matters brought up pertaining to her as Auditor General, during that twenty-one-month period, had to do with third party verification issues for a Compliance audit, and a regular audit management procedure for another audit, adding that no evidence was adduced nor were any witnesses called to support any of the other allegations stated in the case presented to them in June 2022.
“Though I had given a detailed written response to the case, there was no opportunity given to publicly defend myself, as those other allegations never came up during the public Tribunal,” Lara Taylor Pearce stated.
“I can categorically state here that I Lara E. Taylor Pearce, have never knowingly or unknowingly, directly or through others, ever provided information or leaked any information used in any audit or in the process of carrying out my job to any person or persons, whether as individuals or as part of a publication whether those people are local or international,” she said.
She pointed out that those who have been leaking information, now carry the burden of knowing that their actions whether deliberate or otherwise, has resulted in the castigation of an innocent person, and that they must now examine themselves, just as those who gave false testimony to the Tribunal.
She furthered that the Audit Service carries out it functions professionally and there are dedicated lines of responsibility and communication which staff adhere to.
She emphasized that for each category of audit -Financial institutions, Compliance and Performance audits, are carried out using specific International Standards for Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI) and that each category of audit uses different standards.
She reiterated that apart from the quality assurance function within the organization which checks how audits are being done, all performance audits are agreed upon and monitored by an Advisory Performance Audit Committee (APAC) chaired by the Deputy Auditor General, Finance and Corporate Services with members coopted from various divisions within the organization noting that this Committee acts independently and any delays for performance audits are dealt with by that Committee.
She stated that there was no way a Performance Audit would have been stopped without the Committee being made aware of the reason for such a decision. She added that the APAC had the authority to stop the Performance Audit after a thorough review of issues that may have arisen.
She continued that no person including the Auditor General had ever decided on a change of direction of any APAC agreed performance audit whether the auditee was a local council or any other body. Unlike Financial Statement and Compliance Audits which are carried out annually, Performance Audits are based on agreed topic and can take over two years to be finalized she noted.
She stated that the Financial statement in the Sierra Leone Public Sector (Central and Local Government) are prepared using the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), and that is the basis of all such Financial statements, adding that Financial statements of the Central Government Account and all Local councils were audited while she was in office.
She informed the public that the accounts and activities of the Audit Service are audited by an independent audit firm appointed by Parliament as per Section 119(12) of the Constitution adding that at no time has any audit report found her wanting of any professional or administrative misdeeds.
She concluded that they are yet to receive any copy of the said Tribunal report.