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THE auditor general's position as one of five commissioners on the Integrity Commission, and her office's constitutional mandate as it relates to auditing of government entities was a point of contention at the first meeting of the parliamentary committee that has oversight responsibility for the commission last Thursday.Minister in charge of works, and Member of Parliament (MP) for St Catherine South Western Everald Warmington rejected the use of external auditors to certify the commission's accounts, insisting that any department or agency that receives public funds falls under the Auditor General's Department.He said Auditor General Pamela Monroe Ellis should have recognised the defect in the law and remove herself from the commission entirely, "having realised there is a defect in the Bill as it was written. She can't sit as a commissioner because the constitution is breached right there".Warmington made the argument after the question regarding the auditing of the commission's accounts was raised by MP for St Andrew East Rural Juliet Holness, as the committee reviewed the commission's 2020/2021 annual report which was tabled in Parliament in July.Executive director of the commission Greg Christie explained that the Office of the Prime Minister's internal auditor had verified the accounts, which were audited via a hybrid of an external auditor and the auditor general, but that the commission had been instructed to engage an external auditor to certify the accounts."We are engaged in the procurement process to get that done because the contract that we have [with the current external auditor] cannot be amended to cover that type of accounting," Christie said.He advised that Monroe Ellis herself had pointed out that it would be a conflict of interest for her to audit an entity of which she is a commissioner."Although the auditor general is, by law, a designated commissioner of the Integrity Commission, she has been very firm in her position that she cannot exercise her constitutional authority in this particular instance," he stressed.Christie explained that the commission's external auditing process is done on an accrual accounting basis, by external auditors, in tandem with appropriations audits by the auditor general as it relates to carry-over accounts of the Office of the Contractor General, which office was amalgamated with the office for the prevention of corruption and the (Parliamentary) Integrity Commission to form the Integrity Commission in 2018."We are still required to do both types of accounts. We have just gone through with a number of interactions with the financial secretary and the auditor general in that regard... the verification process is typically done by an internal auditor," he said, noting that the commission is being restructured to include a three-man internal audit unit, headed by a chief auditor who will take office in another two weeks.In her intervention, Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte said the committee should acknowledge the current arrangement as a practical one, given that the auditor general could not, while sitting on the commission, audit its financial statements.She said the committee would have advised Parliament that the matter has to be addressed legislatively."It is fair to say that in the interim, a solution had to be found because the statements had to be audited - and I do believe that as an interim solution it probably was a better one. The issue can only be remedied legislatively," she asserted.Furthermore, she said, Parliament could consider whether the auditor general should be a member of the commission in the context of the functions of her office.At the same time, Warmington reiterated his demand for information on the reporting mechanism for annual returns for commissioners and staff of the Integrity Commission."At a certain salary we [public sector employees] are required to submit an annual return or report to the Integrity Commission. I have asked the question before: To whom do the members of the commission submit this report? They are earning from the taxpayers. This is my third time asking in this committee: To whom do the members of the commission file their annual return? I've gotten no answers," he lamented.