Statement by the Supervisor of Elections

Mr Mohammed Saneem

Response to Misinformation by Fiji Times

Venue: FEO Media Centre

Date: 14/12/21

Time: 11am

I have audited the financial statements of the Fijian Elections Office, which comprise the statement of financial position as at 31 July 2018, the statement of comprehensive income and retained earnings, statement of cash flows for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies.

In my opinion, the accompanying financial statements presents fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Fijian Elections Office as at 31 July 2018, and of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year then ended in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards for Small and Medium-sized Entities (“IFRSs for SMEs”)

(Independent Auditor’s Report, Fijian Elections Office, Report on the audit of the Financial Statements)

The FEO would like to categorically state that the front page of the Fiji Times on 10 December 2021 was not only misleading but designed specifically to attack the FEO’s credibility. It is shocking to note the level of effort Anish Chand, the reporter and the Fiji Times team have gone to spread misinformation.

As is usual, I will now provide you with actual facts that was glaringly missing from the said newspaper.

1. The Financial statement of the FEO was prepared by KPMG, one of the top 4 accounting firms in the world. The Auditor General did not raise with the FEO or KPMG at the time it was in conduct of the audit in terms of its dissatisfaction with the report.
2. The Statements were prepared according to the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium-sized entities as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board. The actual report of the Auditor General does not raise any issue with this.
3. Fiji times wrongly stated the dates for the reports that were given to the Auditors. Perhaps to make it fit in line with its propaganda, the date for the financial statements finalized by the OAG and the FEO were wrongly printed as being done in 2021 and not 2020 as was the case.

The more worrying trend as is appearing with Fiji Times is how it fails to obtain any responses from institutions before going carte-blance its way through with the stories even front page. Further questions arise on the knowledge and expertise of the person reporting this story. How can Fiji Times allow a non-qualified person to make his own conclusions and report it as news. You will remember this so-called expert published a similar story earlier in the year riddled with misinformation and incorrect interpretations of the law. There seemed to be a real urgency for Fiji Times to put the story out. The story was incorrect and intentionally did not mention the accounting firm which audited the FEO account. The article only focused on negative statements regarding the FEO and it did not even obtain a response from FEO on the allegations found in the Report.

I have a few questions for Fiji Times:

1. Knowing that the Auditor General’s report had adverse comments on purported findings, did you make any further enquiry into the details of such findings? In the alternative, explain what efforts you made to establish the accuracy of such findings?
2. It is a well-regarded journalism practice to obtain a response from the other side, meaning the institution/person against whom a statement is made, can you explain your efforts to achieve such?
3. In reading that the Auditor General in his report purports to conclude that FEOs financial statements were not upto par, did you not feel it appropriate or in the interests of good journalism practice to ask specific details on the purported shortfalls and whether the OAG has any specific SOP’s or guidelines for independent Statutory Bodies before publishing your story?
4. Knowing that you are not an auditor and apparently not well versed with audit practice, did you assume expertise in the area and make assumptions without balance?
5. Considering all of the above, does it augur well in terms of your and the Fiji Times journalism ethics to repeatedly publish fake, false and incorrect information largely on its front page?

According to Global Charter of Ethics for Journalists, Clause 3 states that the journalist shall report only in accordance with facts of which he/she knows the origin. The journalist shall not suppress essential information or falsify any document. He/ she will be careful to reproduce faithfully statements and other material that non- public persons publish in social media. Furthermore clause 10 states that the journalist will consider distortion of facts to be a form of serious professional misconduct.

In addition, the Media Industry Development Act 2010 Schedule 1 – Media Code of Ethics and Practice, Clause 1 on Accuracy, balance and fairness

(a) Newspapers and magazines, radio and television broadcasting organizations, web sites and internet newsletters, and journalists working for them, shall report and interpret news and current affairs honestly. They shall aim to disclose all known relevant facts and shall take care not to publish material which is inaccurate, misleading or distorted by wrong or improper emphasis or any other factor.

(b) If a significantly inaccurate, misleading or distorted statement is published or broadcast, it must be corrected promptly with due prominence and, where appropriate, an apology must be published or broadcast.

(d) Media organizations have a duty to be balanced and fair in their treatment of news and current affairs.

I also take this opportunity to respond (a right the FEO should have been accorded before Anish Chand and Fiji Times bolted with the story) to the Auditor General.

1. The Auditor General gave the FEO an unqualified audit opinion for 2018. The accounts were all clear.
2. The Auditor General took over 9 months to finalize the audit. You will note that most of the annual reports in Fiji are late because the Audit reports are never on time. In 2021, the Auditor General completed the audit of financial year 2017-2018. As we speak, they are auditing 2018-2019.
3. I will now publish the FEO Financial Statements. According to audit practice, the first draft report was submitted to the Auditor General on 02 July 2019. Then his Auditor left and another few auditors came onboard over 9 months. The first draft had 1 error which was the date. Finally, one of the many auditors asked the FEO to change the date, and we immediately did so. After that the Auditor General had the statements from 22 October 2019 until May 2020 when the final audit adjustments were made and the document was signed off. The problem here is; Fiji Times did not deem it fit to seek a response to establish any fact.
4. The Auditor General himself should explain why his office handled the audit process with such level of incompetence.  It is our view that in making an unjustifiable assessment in his report to parliament. I invite the auditor general to explain to the FEO what his standards are and what are his concerns in the Statements.
5. As another statutory institution, we brought the Fiji Times article to the Auditor General’s attention on Friday. Despite the obvious errors in the article which purported to report the Auditor General’s findings, there was a complete lack of interest in correcting the errors by this office. Can the Fiji Times confirm if the Auditor General wrote to them to clarify the dates for the report.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in 2006 and prior, the OSE accounts were maintained by the accounts team at the Prime Minister’s office. This meant that all payments and processing were handled by the OPM. However, in 2014, the Electoral Act granted complete independence to the SoE as head of FEO to manage all FEO accounts. In practice this meant that the FEO should now have its own financial management system and handle its own accounts independent of the government financial system. We acquired the software in 2016 and then decided to hire an accounting firm to help us migrate to the new system. We did so because it was critical to ensure that the process was done thoroughly and properly. We successfully achieved the crossover in 2017 and the accounts were prepared with the assistance of KPMG for the next few financial years.

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