Auditdienst approves SONA annual account 2012

The Daily Herald writes that Foundation development Netherlands Antilles SONA has received “an unqualified opinion” on its annual accounts through 2012 from the auditors of KPMG, which is being controlled again by the Dutch entity Auditdienst Rijk, according to the foundation. KPMG and Auditdienst have taken “different views of the interpretation of the control protocol.” USONA, the implementing arm of the foundation, “has worked actively to bridge those differences. In that context, for some time already, some successful measures are in place for internal control in USONA and projects in progress. Consequently, meanwhile the Auditdienst Rijk recently also issued a positive opinion to discharge on the annual account 2012 of SONA. “It is unfortunate that the newspaper in question has received this explanation but it has chosen deliberately not to use any part of it in the article that was published today [Tuesday .Ed],” the foundation said in response to an article published by the Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad on its front page Tuesday. According to the foundation, “Within the overall framework of a large number of projects only in two cases there is a suspicion that the funds are not spent entirely correct. In one of them USONA itself detected fraud. In accordance with the (U)SONA policy immediately after discovery this was reported to the authorities and the perpetrators will have to recover the damages.” The policy of SONA (board) and USONA (administrative body) is aimed at preventing irregularities in the resources under its management. “This requires effective, preventive supervision of the implementation of projects. Only under strict conditions incidental advances are granted. Entering into commitments and paying invoices is only possible after prior agreement of USONA. Per annum USONA makes about 6,000 payments in this context.”