Timely submission of audited financial statements

Dear Editor,
The Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) responds to a letter to the editor authored by Christopher Ram, dated April 28, 2025, titled “The tabling of a ten years’ late, incomplete Ethnic Relations Commission’s audited financial statement is wrong in all respects.”
The Commission firstly agrees with the premise that audited financial statements are critical to public accountability and transparency, and further concurs that all public agencies should submit these documents in a timely manner as prescribed by the Constitution to the National Assembly.
It must be noted from the onset that the current Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission, Shaikh Moeenul Hack, and the current CEO/Secretary, Gomin Camacho assumed duties in March 2023 and July 2023, respectively.
The financial audits for the years 2022 and 2023 were conducted in 2024. During this process, it was discovered that the previous Commission, under its former Chairman and CEO/Secretary, had failed to submit audited financial reports for seven consecutive years (2015–2021). As such, the current Commission would have cleared this backlog of submission that were pending from the previous Commission. Additionally, audited financial statements for 2022 and 2023 were completed and received by the ERC, in the end of 2024. As such, the Commission is up to date with its submissions of completed Audited Financial Statements.
The ERC also finds it imperative to highlight that the Auditor General reports, all consistently reported no financial improprieties on the part of the Commission.
Given the above, the Commission finds that criticisms directed at the current Chairman and CEO/Secretary of the ERC are misdirected and warrant an apology. Rather than exhibiting dereliction of duty, the current Chairman and CEO/Secretary have, in fact, cleared the backlog of submissions inherited from their predecessors.
While constructive criticism is a cornerstone of democratic societies such as ours, it must be consistent and fair. Had the learned accountant and attorney been so, the seven-year (2015–2021) gap in submissions would have been highlighted much earlier if the true intent was to promote public accountability and transparency, rather than to mount personal attacks on the character of individuals.

Sincerely,
Ethnic Relations
Commission