A regularly scheduled financial audit of the Cambodian side of the Khmer Rouge tribunal has been postponed so that an audit of the Cambodian side’s human resources section can be completed, a local auditing firm said Thursday.
Key Kak, managing partner at the accounting firm Morison, Kak et Associes, said that on April 23 he had been scheduled to start auditing the finances of the Cambodian side of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia but that the UN Development Program had postponed this until an unspecified date.
Malaysia-based auditors with Candide Consulting, who were commissioned by the UNDP, visited the ECCC on two occasions between January and March to audit hiring procedures, according to UNDP and court officials.
MKA was told in March and again in April that their one-week audit would have to be postponed as the Candide audit, triggered by concerns raised in late 2006, was still ongoing, he said. “Recently they just said that I have to wait,” Key Kak said, referring to the UNDP.
UNDP spokesman Men Kimseng said his agency is awaiting the results of the hiring procedures audit. “We don’t have any further information at this time,” he added.
ECCC Public Affairs Chief Helen Jarvis said the UNDP had not explained to the court why it was seeking a delay in the MKA audit.
The UNDP oversees more than $6 million donated to the Cambodian side of the court, most of which come from residual Untac funds and from the European Commission. The donation came on condition that the court submit to regular financial “spot checks” and an annual audit, Jarvis said. “We remain ready to comply with the agreements and procedures, which have already been laid out,” she said.
When Candide auditors returned to the court for the second time in March, they were accompanied by officials from UNDP’s Office of Audit and Performance Review, Jarvis said, adding that the reason for this was unclear.
Ambassador Pius Fischer of Germany said he did not have enough information on the situation to comment.
