The Cabinet Minister in charge of selecting a firm to carry out the forensic audit initiated by the government targeting projects by the former government, is keeping mum as to when the forensic update will start.

Two months ago, the Minister of Finance who is also the Chair of the Tenders Board and responsible for selecting a firm to undertake the project said they were waiting for a report from the Evaluation Committee.

Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o said the Evaluation Committee was tasked with scrutinising the submissions from accounting firms who expressed interest to audit the long list of projects and accounts. 

She then told this newspaper two months ago that the Tenders Board was waiting for the report from the committee. 

Samoa Observer was tipped off that the Government had already awarded the contract to a well-established accounting firm in New Zealand that also has a branch in Samoa. 

However, when Minister Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molio'o was asked for confirmation, she immediately said the information we received was "untrue". 

"We (Tenders Board) are still waiting for a report," she said two months ago. 

"The report must come from the Evaluation Committee then we would go through the report and ask questions before we can finalise a decision. 

"Once we make a decision, then we make a submission to the Cabinet for consideration. But at this stage, we have not received the report and we have not finalised a decision."

Attempts from this newspaper to get an interview with the Minister on the matter have been unsuccessful and emails and phone calls to the Minister remain unanswered. 

Mulipola did confirm two months ago that there are more projects now added to the initial lists they had when the project was first initiated. 

In January of this year, Mulipola in an exclusive interview with this newspaper confirmed that two international accounting firms had made bids for the job and that the Evaluation Committee was asked to scrutinise the submissions and report back to the Tenders Board. 

She also confirmed that there was a local accounting firm that showed interest in carrying out the work. 

The Government made a request through the Ministry of Finance (M.O.F.) in October of last year, seeking for specialist accounting firms that can conduct a forensic audit of selected projects, which were funded by public monies and undertaken during the term of the Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P.) Administration.

The request was made through the M.O.F. which has provided funding in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 Budgets to procure a selected specialist firm to carry out the work. 

Initially, there were close to 20 major projects undertaken during the term of the former administration that were referred by the current government for forensic audit. 

Some of which allegedly involved former Cabinet Ministers and politicians who were either business partners or relatives and were referred for the proposed forensic audit. 

A Cabinet directive based on a meeting dated 18 May 2022 noted the approval of $500,000 to fund the forensic audit investigation which will be done in two phases. The Samoa Audit Office, the C.E.O. and Assistant C.E.O. of Government Offices and the Ministry of Public Enterprises will assist in the investigation.