The Governor supports the right of the Auditor General to look into any areas of public expenditure, including Operations Tempura and Cealt, and he notes the comments and recommendations to Government in the report.

 

He agrees that major government projects should be closely managed to ensure the public gets value for money and that wherever appropriate, normal project management and procurement procedures should be put in place.

 

Operation Tempura was not, however, a routine project or purchase of services by government. It began as a small-scale, covert police investigation and its subsequent development, and the scale and cost, were not at the outset predictable, as often occurs with police investigations.

 

While not himself responsible for police-related budgets, the Governor did at various points urge those who were responsible to be as careful as possible to keep down the costs of these investigations. Even if, in hindsight, some aspects of the investigations could have been handled differently, the Governor acknowledges the good-faith efforts that a number of Cayman Islands civil servants have put into supporting Operations Tempura and Cealt, both the members of the oversight groups and those dealing with the financial management.

 

To understand what transpired the Governor encourages people to read the management response at the end of the report, as well as the Auditor General’s report.

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