Commenting on the publication of ‘A Review of the Effectiveness and Financial Management within the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association’, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Assembly, Andrew RT Davies AM said:
“This report underscores what many of us had already suspected. This is a fiasco that should have been prevented. The Welsh Government was warned eight years ago and failed to take the relevant steps. Now we have one of the most prominent publicly funded debacles Wales has ever witnessed.
“Responsibility should now be taken at a ministerial level. The buck stops firmly with the government. Ministers need to look long and hard at their actions over the last eight years and consider whether they have properly fulfilled their duties.
“The uses of petty cash and expenses detailed here are beyond words. It is clear that financial management within this body has been non-existent – something that had already been highlighted in 2004 to absolutely no avail.
“I welcome the minister’s decision to terminate funding but it is eight years too late. Her announcement of a review into historical funding is also drastically overdue and an opportunity has been missed to directly deal with transparency.
“There are a number of important questions which still remain completely unanswered. Notably, I have received no reply to a letter sent to the First Minister on Friday, following the disclosure of prominent links between the charity’s CEO and the Labour Party.
“There remains a perception of looking after one’s own, which should be addressed. Given the vast sums of taxpayers money involved, we need assurances that all decisions regarding Awema have been – and will be – taken with all due diligence, not on the principle of party allegiance.”
