The government procurement policies are being reviewed after the Fuji Xerox accounts scandal.
The New Zealand Herald reported that the Auditor General has said that he is considering a review after the Fuji Xerox accounts were found to be irregular as reported by The Recycler 13 June although he said he would wait until the investigation is complete before proceeding.
Last month an independent enquiry released a report on “inappropriate accounting” by the Japanese company and Fuji Holdings said that it took the findings “very seriously and is committed to resolving past issues and ensuring that there is no recurrence.”
The concerns that the Crown “has all of government contracts with Fuji Xerox” were brought forward by New Zealand’s First Leader, Winston Peters, and Is the reason for the Auditor Generals response.
In response to Peters letter, Greg Schollum, Auditor General, said: “said Fuji Xerox is outside the office’s mandate as it is not a public entity, but it “can and does look at the relationships between private entities and the Crown”.
Schollum also said: “All-of-government panels reviewing public entity procurement, which had been scheduled for 2018/2019, could now be carried out in 2017/18. We are liaising with officials about that work and have told them that we intend to actively monitor MBIE’s consideration of the arrangements. We will consider what action we intend to take once we have considered the results of the work that MBIE is doing.”