February 25, 2022
Why are no accounts of Walesi Pte Limited tabled in Parliament yet?
Walesi was created in 2015. Every year since then it has been given up to $11 million in the National Budget. This is supposed to be for digital access to television and other media. In the 2021-22 Budget, Walesi has been allocated $15.5 million.
But we know nothing about how it has spent the money.
We do know that the Government is forcing TV stations to stop using their own networks and pay thousands of dollars every month to Walesi to use the Walesi network.
We do know that Walesi jumped up and down about the Auditor-General delaying its audits, even though it was Walesi who could not even prepare its accounts on time.
Last month Walesi said the audits for its accounts for 2015, 2016 and 2017 have been completed. So where are the accounts? When will the taxpayers see them?
According to the Budget papers, Walesi has had more than $50 million of taxpayers’ money. But we do not know if Walesi got this money or not, or how Walesi spent it, or how well Walesi spent it.
This government talks a lot of big talk about transparency and accountability. Now it should show some.