by TREVOR YEARWOOD

GOVERNMENT IS MOVING to plug gaps in its information technology (IT) systems, following reports that they were used to siphon off large sums of state money.

Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office with special responsibility for Finance and Energy, Darcy Boyce, spoke of the planned IT upgrade in the Senate yesterday.

"I've been advised by some of the officers in the ministry, that there are a number of situations in which the controls in our IT systems in departments which deal with large sums of money are not what they would like them to be," he said.

Boyce said he had asked for help in making sure that IT controls in such are "developed properly" to "stop any leakage of funds".

He spoke against the backdrop of the reported theft of more than $500 000 from the National Insurance Department in 2007, more than $1 million from the Psychiatric Hospital in 2006, and close to $500 000 from the Inland Revenue Department the same year.

Senator Boyce said there were "one or two instances" where Government would probably have to do some forensic audits in departments.

This was "to make sure that if there are instances of funds which have gone missing that those are detected and the persons responsible for them are (made) to pay back those funds", he explained.

The development had nothing to do with whether the person supported the Opposition Barbados Labour Party or the ruling Democratic Labour Party, he stressed.

"If we find instances . . . where your controls are not proper, where the funds might have gone missing, I have no choice as a member of my profession but to seek to stamp out that practice," he added.

Accountant Boyce made a wide-ranging presentation in which he underscored the need to improve Government's financial services overall.

More coverage of yesterday's Senate proceedings on Pages 4, 16 & 17.