The Bermuda Government remains reluctant to penalise senior civil servants who break financial rules, according to Auditor-General Heather Jacobs Matthews.

Mrs Matthews answered with an emphatic e-mailed “Yes!” when asked by The Royal Gazette yesterday if there was still an unwillingness to discipline public officials who failed to follow internal financial instructions.

A myriad of failures by senior civil servants involving millions of dollars of taxpayers’ cash are highlighted in her latest report on government spending, for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012, when the Progressive Labour Party was in power.

She recommends that the civil servants be fined or otherwise disciplined — a call she has made repeatedly during her six years in office.

Asked yesterday if earlier recommendations of hers had been heeded, Mrs Matthews replied: “Obviously not!”

She added: “This report clearly speaks to a systemic lack of accountability and responsibility during the period under review.”

The parliamentary Public Accounts Committee heard complaints from MPs yesterday about the lack of repercussions for violations of the financial instructions, with chairman David Burt arguing that they should “have the rule of law” (see story below).

The Auditor-General said that although the Government’s financial instructions (FIs) were “quite robust” in setting out penalties, she was aware of only one occasion a number of years ago when a civil servant was disciplined.

The Ministry of Finance responded to her latest recommendation by saying it agreed that civil servants should be fined or otherwise disciplined.

But a spokesman would not reveal whether any public officials had been penalised in relation to the examples in Mrs Matthews’s 315-page report, which cites instance after instance of public servants breaching or ignoring the financial instructions.

He said: “Any breach of FIs in which the Accountant-General has been notified would have been dealt with appropriately either by the Accountant-General or the responsible accounting officer. Disciplinary matters within the Civil Service are confidential.”

Although she does not name the individuals concerned, Mrs Matthews’s report identifies them in most instances by job title or by the ministry they served — and it is clear that some remain in senior positions within the civil service which give them signing authority for spending public funds.

The Auditor said: “It is not the policy or the role of the Auditor-General to identify persons by name.

“The Public Accounts Committee may wish to bring these individuals before them for questioning in a public forum.”

Examples include Cabinet secretary and Civil Service head Derrick Binns, who was Permanent Secretary (PS) at the Ministry of Home Affairs for the financial year ending March 2010, when there was $2.4 million spent without signed contracts. The minister was David Burch.

Dr Binns said: “I have not had an opportunity to review the report and therefore am not in a position to comment.”

The deputy head of the Civil Service, Cherie-lynn Whitter, meanwhile, was PS at the Ministry of Tourism and Transport for the fiscal year 2010, when there was $1.5 million in department spending at the Department of Tourism not approved by Cabinet, as well as $3.6 million in contracts not tendered.

Premier Ewart Brown was tourism and transport minister.

Ms Whitter was also in charge of the chequebook at tourism for part of the financial year ending March 2011, when the Department did not tender $18.1 million worth of contracts.

She did not respond to an e-mail yesterday.

Some of the public servants revealed in the report to have failed to comply with financial instructions have since left the Civil Service. Robert Horton was PS at the Ministry of Public Works from 2009 to 2010, when there was a failure to comply with financial instructions in relation to capital projects worth more than $35 million. He retired from the Civil Service in February 2013.

Mrs Matthews’s report stated that the PS was the accounting officer for the majority of capital development projects and was therefore responsible for ensuring that financial instructions and other internal policies were followed. Derrick Burgess was minister.

Mr Horton told this newspaper he never faced disciplinary proceedings for any of the failures cited by the Auditor-General, nor was he fined or penalised in any way.

“Certainly not,” he said. “Never was there any accusation, except for questions by the Auditor-General.

“Any question raised by the Office of the Auditor-General was replied to by me.”

Mr Horton, who was a public servant for 43 years, said he had no further comment to make, having not yet read Mrs Matthews’s report.

His sister, Ellen-Kate Horton, also now retired, was PS for transport for part of the financial year 2011.

The Auditor’s report refers to millions of dollars worth of departmental expenditures not approved by Cabinet in 2011 under that Ministry, as well as expenditures made without signed contracts and contracts not tendered.

It was not possible to reach her by telephone yesterday.

Terry Lister was transport minister.

Another Civil Service retiree, Kevin Monkman, oversaw $4.1 million of contracts not being tendered at the Department of Education during the fiscal year 2010, while he was PS.

He could not be reached yesterday.

According to the financial instructions, the Accountant-General is responsible for the “general supervision of all departmental financial accounting functions”.

Joyce Hayward was Accountant-General for the whole of the period covered by the Auditor’s consolidated fund report.

She quit the Civil Service in August 2013 after spending nine months on administrative leave.

The Government has never commented on why Mrs Hayward was put on leave. She could not be reached by telephone yesterday.

Mrs Matthews said yesterday: “The report speaks to a litany of non-compliance with financial instructions and related rules.

“All those employees who did not comply with financial instructions should be disciplined in one form or another.”

She added that the penalty for non-compliance was “at the discretion of the Ministry of Finance”.