WILLEMSTAD – Minister of Finance Charles Cooper has formally requested that the Algemene Rekenkamer Curaçao withdraw and amend its final report on the 2023 annual accounts of the Country of Curaçao. According to Cooper, the report contains factual and material inaccuracies and was produced following an insufficiently careful hearing and rebuttal process.
In a letter addressed to the Audit Chamber, Cooper writes that the government took note of the report on the 2023 annual accounts with great concern and disappointment. He argues that several findings and the conclusions derived from them are factually and substantively incorrect.
The minister states that during the hearing and rebuttal phase, the government submitted a detailed written response to the draft report, including substantive arguments and references to relevant facts, documents, and supporting evidence. Despite this, Cooper says the final report was not amended on several key points.
According to Cooper, the hearing and rebuttal process also lacked sufficient transparency. He notes that the government explicitly requested insight, prior to publication of the final report, into which parts of the government’s response had been adopted and which had not, as well as the reasoning behind those decisions. That request, he says, was not honored.
While a concluding meeting did take place at the request of the Country, Cooper states that the government’s written response was not fully discussed point by point during that meeting. As a result, the government was unable to determine which adjustments, if any, had been made in the final version of the report.
Despite these objections, the Audit Chamber proceeded with publication of the final report, which according to the government still contains several materially incorrect factual findings and conclusions. Cooper warns that these create a misleading picture for the public and may have far-reaching consequences for perceptions of Curaçao’s financial management and compliance with budgetary and reporting standards.
The minister further points out that similar issues have arisen, according to the government, in earlier audits of the annual accounts for 2021 and 2022. This, he says, gives rise to the impression that responses from the Country are not being sufficiently weighed or incorporated during the hearing and rebuttal process.
On the basis of these objections, Cooper is asking the Audit Chamber to withdraw the final report and to amend those sections in which the government believes factual and material inaccuracies exist. An annex to the letter reportedly contains an overview of the disputed findings, the government’s responses, and the supporting arguments and evidence.
Cooper also argues that a video published by the Audit Chamber on the 2023 annual accounts contains material inaccuracies. The government is therefore requesting that this publication also be withdrawn or amended to align it with a revised and corrected version of the report.
According to the minister, reports with such significant societal and administrative impact must be produced through a careful, transparent, and professional process. The government says it expects a written response from the Audit Chamber, as well as clarity on whether it is willing to withdraw and amend the report, within two weeks.