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The Mis-Audit Explained
posted (September 27, 2018)

So while Matus has been made to endure extraordinary public humiliation, and Budhrani will be re-instated as president - it is an interesting outturn because in an ideal world, when a whistleblower speaks up about misfeasance, that whistleblower is rewarded. But in Matus’ case, it backfired and he now looks like the boy who cried wolf. We asked Interim President Dr. John Morris about the results of the audit and how it underscores, as Dr. Morris puts it, Matus’s incompetence.

Reporter
"Did you support the decision made yesterday then, that the internal auditor Roberto Matus be terminated because we understand that was one of the decisions made yesterday."

Dr. John Morris - Interim President, NICH
"Well I am the acting president so I took the external auditor report to the board and the board looked at it and then a resolution was passed by the board of NICH to terminate his services, primarily because they felt a lot of errors were made and it can’t continue in that direction. We need to go outside and hire a new internal auditor who is capable of doing the job."

"If you look at the audit that he did, due diligence was not done when you do an internal audit you find an example of , let’s say misuse of fuel, you need to go to the director of that particular institute and say this is what I have found, do you have an explanation for it and if there is no explanation for it then you can document that or you look for patterns of spending habits that may lead to something else but one incident doesn’t lead to mismanagement, there can be many reasons as to why for instance a staff member  family died at NICH, you buy a floral wreath  for them and you might help them with funeral expenses, now is that an illegal thing to do ? I don’t think so, I think that is helping out your staff but if you look at the financial protocols you shouldn’t do that but then you have a board and a president who can authorize those kinds of things. There were major discrepancies in his report in fact if he had simply sat down with the finance officer he would have found out that his reporting of the fuel usage literally was off the mark.

Courtney Weatherburne
"What was his explanation for that, he is the internal auditor, he should know what the procedures are in this process."

Dr. John Morris
"Well I asked him about it, you know they say you should never flog a dead horse or you should not, or when a person dies you shouldn’t malign them or anything like that.  I simply don’t think that the internal auditor is very, very competent."

Courtney Weatherburne
"How was he put in that position in the first place?"

Dr. John Morris
"Now that is a question, I don’t have an answer for that because remember I don’t hire administration people. But from what I recall we have always had issues with his reports."

Courtney Weatherburne
"So this is not the first time?"

Dr. John Morris
"In fact the previous interim president of NICH sent back a report."

Courtney Weatherburne
"That he delivered..."

Dr. John Morris
"He sent back the report and asked him to liaise with the directors which he did not do at that time."

As we reported, Matus has a degree in theology. He was hired as internal auditor in 2014 with the condition that he completes an accounting degree but in a press conference President Budhrani says he never completed it.

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