The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

THE CHIEF executive for the 50th CARIFTA Games yesterday blasted “every penny was accounted for right down to the last five cents” as he hit back at “transparency, value for money” and other woes raised by Parliament’s spending watchdog over the $500,000 advance he gave.

Lynden Maycock told Tribune Business he received no profits or financial gain from The Bahamas hosting the 50th regional track and field championships over Easter weekend 2023 after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) raised “conflict of interest” concerns over himself and his accounting firm, Accounting Outsource Services, being reimbursed $524,000 from a publicly-funded event he was overseeing.

The report, tabled in the House of Assembly yesterday by Opposition leader Michael Pintard, made no findings that money was missing or had been misappropriated by anyone, and Mr Maycock questioned how there was any conflict in him being reimbursed for a funding advance made through his company to ensure the CARIFTA Games ran smoothly. “What’s the problem?” he charged.

Mr Maycock disclosed that it was common practice for himself, and other private and corporate philanthropists, to make donations to prominent sporting events in The Bahamas to enable their smooth functioning and staging. This, he said, occurred with The Bahamas’ hosting of the IAAF World Relays in 2014 and 2015 as donors stepped up to fill funding gaps until the Government could assist.

Asserting that the CARIFTA Games were nothing different, Mr Maycock said he and Accounting Outsource Services stepped into the financial breach through his own “personal funds”. He added that the championships “didn’t even have a budget starting out”, and were “grossly under-funded by the Government” as he and other organisers grappled with significant “political interference” to make them a success and The Bahamas show well.

The former CARIFTA Games chief executive also reiterated to this newspaper what he told the Public Accounts Committee - that the $500,000 advance, and subsequent reimbursement - were approved by Simon Wilson, the Ministry of Finance’s financial secretary. “I told the Committee that if the financial secretary, Simon Wilson, was not in that office, Accounting Outsource Services, Lynden Maycock, would not advance that money,” he asserted.

However, the Committee, in its report, said it was troubled by the “inability of witnesses” other than Mr Maycock to explain how the $500,000 advance was authorised. Only Mr Maycock himself was able to say it had been approved by Mr Wilson, with all other persons questioned saying they only found out after it occurred. As a result, the spending watchdog said this - and the subsequent repayment using public monies - had “bypassed” normal procurement rules.

“The Committee was particularly concerned by the inability of witnesses to provide a clear and consistent account of how the arrangement involving approximately $500,000 advanced by the chief executive was authorised,” the report said.

“The issue extends beyond the propriety of the expenditures themselves. The more fundamental concern is that the Committee was unable to identify a clear approval pathway supported by documented authorisation.

“The chief executive testified that the arrangement had been approved by the financial secretary. Conversely, other witnesses indicated that they learned of the arrangement only after it had occurred, did not grant prior approval and were unaware of who may have authorised it,” the Public Accounts Committee added.

“The result is that the Committee received differing accounts regarding who approved the arrangement and under what authority it proceeded. Equally concerning was the absence of documentary evidence capable of resolving the issue. The Committee received no written approval, authorisation, direction, commitment record, approval memorandum or other document.”

It branded this “a significant accountability failure”, and added of the 50th CARIFTA Games: “Public financial management systems are intended to ensure that major financial decisions can be traced to identifiable decision-makers and are supported by documented approvals. Where substantial sums are expended and reimbursed without a demonstrable authorisation trail, accountability becomes blurred and public confidence is weakened.

“The Committee therefore concludes that the uncertainty surrounding authorisation of the reimbursement arrangement serves as one of the strongest examples of the accountability weaknesses identified during this inquiry.”

Describing the reimbursement of Mr Maycock and Accounting Outsource Services as being “of particular concern”, the Public Accounts Committee concluded: “The evidence supports the conclusion that these arrangements bypassed established procurement processes and created unacceptable risks relating to transparency, value for money and oversight.

“The Committee concludes that the arrangements represented a serious breakdown in financial governance and public procurement discipline.” Mr Maycock, though, hit back at findings he both disputed and rejected, noting that the organisers “didn’t have a lot of time” to prepare as he only agreed to serve as CARIFTA Games chief executive in September 2022, some eight months before it started.

He argued that “the arrangement that was done” over the reimbursement was similar to what he and others did for the track and field World Relays in 2014 and 2015, when they “advanced personal funds” to cover financing shortfalls and enable The Bahamas to host the event successfully.

“I would have advanced my personal funds from my firm, Accounting Outsource Services, to get the Games started,” Mr Maycock told Tribune Business of the $500,000 for CARIFTA. “First and foremost, there wasn’t even a Budget starting off. It was greatly under-funded by the Government, and not only greatly under-funded by the Government, there was so much political interference.

“The objective of my administration was we would only want the Government to assist with capital works.” While not detailing what this “political interference” involved, Mr Maycock said he and CARIFTA Games organisers set out to raise $3m in operations funding from private sponsors and ultimately generated $1.5m.

“That was the greatest ever in the history of the country, $1.5m in private sponsors,” he told this newspaper. “Those Games were the best-executed Games, and every penny was accounted for down to the last five cents.”

However, the Committee’s report raised what it described as “conflict of interest” concerns over the Accounting Outsource Services advance and later reimbursement. This, it said, arose because Mr Maycock was in charge of an event that would, in effect, be repaying himself using public funds.

“Of all the financial management issues examined by the Committee, the arrangements involving Accounting Outsource Services… present perhaps the clearest example of the governance risks that arise when effective controls are absent,” the Committee asserted.

“The audit found that approximately $524,000 was reimbursed to Accounting Outsource Services and further found that the established procurement process had been bypassed. Testimony before the Committee confirmed that Accounting Outsource Services was owned by the chief executive officer of the CARIFTA Games…

“The chief executive officer of the CARIFTA games occupied a position of significant authority within the administration of the Games. At the same time, his own company advanced funds and incurred expenditure that was later submitted for reimbursement,” the Committee added.

“As a result, the same individual was involved in managing the project, influencing or directing expenditure decisions, financing expenditure through his own company - and then subsequently benefiting from reimbursement of those expenditures. The Committee considers this arrangement to be entirely inconsistent with any accepted standards of public financial management.”

Mr Maycock, though, dismissed these findings and asked the Committee to identify precisely where any such conflict had occurred. “I was acting in the best interests of the country,” he blasted to Tribune Business of the $500,000 advance and its reimbursement. “Lynden Maycock did not ask for or receive five cents from these Games. I told them not to pay me for my contribution.

“As an auditor, that’s not a conflict of interest. They ought to know what they’re saying. That’s not a conflict of interest to advance funds especially if it got approved. There’s no conflict; where’s the conflict? What is the problem? It was approved.

“Like I told the Committee, if the financial secretary, Simon Wilson, was not in that office, Accounting Outsource Services and Lynden Maycock would not advance that money. That’s how much faith and trust I have in the financial secretary that I would get the money back like happened before.”

However, the Committee’s report added: “The evidence before the Committee demonstrated that many of the expenditures later reimbursed to Accounting Outsource Services had already been incurred before those procurement safeguards could be applied.

“By the time reimbursement requests were presented, the goods and services had already been procured and the underlying purchasing decisions had already been made. Competitive procurement requires that purchasing decisions be subject to objective evaluation before commitments are made. Transparency requires that transactions be capable of independent scrutiny.

“Accountability requires that those approving expenditure are distinct from those benefiting from it. The Accounting Outsource Services arrangement compromised all three principles. The Committee therefore concludes that the Accounting Outsource Services arrangements represented one of the most serious procurement failures identified during this inquiry and exposed public resources to unnecessary risk.”