The Editor,
I read with dismay the 4th report of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Hon. Legislature in the FrontPageAfrica Newspaper December 4, 2017 edition.
According to the newspaper, the PAC Report is based on an audit conducted by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) of seven (7) government agencies and ministries for the fiscal years 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.
The said PAC Report alleges that several payments were made to third parties by the Management of the Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (MSME) Project at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry without supporting documentations covering the periods 2010/2011 and 2011/2012.
The PAC Report therefore recommends that I, Andrew G. Paygar, Deputy Minister for Small Business Administration (SBA), should be made to restitute US$4,218.83,
representing my share of payments allegedly made to third parties without proper documentations.
For the record, I wish to categorically state that I was not within the employ of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry during the referenced periods.
In fact, I joined the Ministry in January 2015, almost three years after the alleged third party payments occurred as Deputy Minister for the SBA.
I would therefore like to express disappointment that the PAC did not contact me to provide clarification on this matter before publishing its report. For several years, I have had the opportunity to serve in public capacities and there has never been an occasion that I have ever been accused of impropriety, and let it be known that I guide my integrity jealously.
Andrew Paygar,
[email protected]
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