Latest news with #noncompliance
CNA
2 days ago
- Business
- CNA
Indian miner Vedanta's demerger faces government objection, CNBC-TV18 reports
Indian miner Vedanta's demerger is facing objection from the federal government, CNBC-TV18 reported on Wednesday, after the company received a warning from the markets regulator for non-compliance. Shares of the company fell 2.4 per cent to hit session's low after the report. Vedanta, led by billionaire Anil Agarwal, aims for a sweeping overhaul to carve itself up into multiple separate businesses, in a move aimed at shoring up the group's financial performance. India's National Company Law Tribunal has deferred Vedanta's demerger case hearing to September 17 after the federal government objected to the split, claiming it has "serious objections," the CNBC-TV18 report said. The federal government has flagged concealment and non-disclosure of key details for the demerger as well as "inflated revenues" and "concealed liabilities," it added.
Irish Times
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Three times more IPAS centres closed in last seven months than all of 2024
Twelve contracts for emergency asylum seeker accommodation have been terminated since the start of the year due to noncompliance issues. The figure, covering the period up to July 24th, is triple the number of contracts that were ended in all of 2024, while just one such contract was terminated in each of 2022 and 2023, according to figures provided by the Minister for Justice. None was terminated in 2021. About 490 beds have been removed from the system due to closures so far this year, the Department of Justice said, adding that the closures were due to noncompliance with regulations or contractual breaches. A department spokesman said the State was accommodating an 'unprecedented number of international protection applicants arising from a significant surge in applicants in the post-Covid 19 period'. READ MORE An average of 1,000 people are entering Ireland each month to seek international protection, he said, adding that the State is legally obliged to offer 'reception conditions, including accommodation' to each applicant. When a contract is ended, all asylum seekers living in the affected centre are moved to a new location. International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) centres are subject to inspection and compliance checks throughout the lifetime of their contract. [ How former GAA manager Séamus 'Banty' McEnaney made over €200m from housing refugees and the homeless Opens in new window ] Sinn Féin justice spokesman Matt Carthy said there were 'long-standing' concerns related to the granting of contracts for IPAS centres, particularly around the profits made. The Cavan-Monaghan TD, who received the information via parliamentary questions, said the 'sharp rise' in the number of IPAS contracts terminated should be examined in more detail. 'This is very significant and suggests that there wasn't sufficient checks before contracts were granted to those seeking to profit from the Government's failures in relation to international protection.' Mr Carthy said Minister for Justice Jim O'Callaghan should provide more information about the centre closures and explain the noncompliance issues. The IPAS is accommodating nearly 33,000 residents across the State. Of those, almost 400 people are living in tented accommodation centres, the department said. About 25,000 residents, including 7,495 children, are staying in emergency IPAS accommodation centres. The department spokesman said 'huge efforts' were under way to develop 'a more stable and sustainable accommodation system in the long term'. 'This approach aims to drive the delivery of over 14,000 State-owned beds. While the State will continue to use commercial providers in the short and medium term, over time the new strategy will help to reduce reliance on the private market for accommodation.'
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nueces County examines fraud risk, irregularities from former county auditor's office
An audit of Nueces County's auditor has revealed concerning findings of poor documentation and noncompliance with policies and procedures. The Nueces County Commissioners Court heard a preliminary report on forensic audits of the county auditor's office and a health insurance fund on July 23. One finding was that commissioners weren't informed of millions of dollars in transfers and loans to the county's health insurance fund. The audits examine five years from fiscal years 2020 through 2024. The current Nueces County auditor, Grayson Meyer, was not in the position at the time. In January, the Commissioners Court chose accounting firm Carr, Riggs & Ingram to conduct a forensic audit of the county's health insurance fund and the county auditor's office. The final reports from the audit will be presented at the next Commissioners Court meeting, including detailed findings and recommendations. CRI partner Ben Kincaid presented the preliminary findings July 23. Kincaid shared a high-level overview of the main findings, but the final reports will include more findings. The county auditor's office is responsible for preparing accounting records for all county funds, auditing the records and accounts of various county departments, verifying the legality of county disbursements, forecasting financial data for budget formulation purposes and serving as the county's budget officer. Commissioner Brent Chesney said that the commission had concerns about the previous auditor, which is why the county pursued a forensic audit. Forensic audits are used to identify fraud or irregularities. The forensic audit cost the county $315,000. Meyer was appointed county auditor in May. He previously served as a business manager for development services for the city of Corpus Christi and as budget manager for the Nueces County auditor's office. For the county auditor's office, the outside forensic auditors analyzed internal financial statements, county budgets, financial records, year-end financial processes, payroll expenditures, invoices, contracts, procurements, purchase orders, and purchasing card and fuel card activities. They were looking for irregularities and noncompliance. There were errors in budgets, Kincaid said, and commissioners were concerned about a lack of documentation. A software transition also created significant hurdles for the county. The outside auditors found that operations were siloed within the county, the county had an elevated fraud risk, there was insufficient planning for the software transition, the county had a lack of standard procedures and reviews of existing policies for compliance, bank reconciliations weren't performed on a timely basis and the county lacked oversight for procurement cards. 'Overall, we determined that the auditor's office was operating as a silo within the county, and that affected its operations and its ability to serve as an auditor for the county as a whole,' Kincaid said. This siloing is a problem in other county departments as well, Kincaid said. 'We have to have buy-in from everybody,' Nueces County Judge Connie Scott said. 'We want to move forward with new policies that take care of this and correct the problems.' Other findings include minimal oversight over fuel card purchases, insufficient details for purchase orders, insufficient documentation for gift card purchases, lack of procurement training and noncompliance with county policies and procedures. The county uses gift cards for social services and staff recognition. The county also doesn't have a fraud hotline for people to report fraud or noncompliance. The reviewers also recommend the county implement fraud awareness training. Fraud is often caught by employees, Kincaid said. The county hasn't been using internal audit functions sufficiently, the audit showed. For the health insurance fund, the auditors analyzed financial records, identified the sources and uses of funds transferred to offset losses, analyzed a change in the pay schedule for employee and county contributions, analyzed the procurement of agreements with health insurance fund contractors and determined whether the county's internal controls were overridden. 'Over the past several years there have been deficits within the health insurance fund that created concerns,' Kincaid said. 'There were also some concerns related to loans that were being provided from the general fund to the health insurance fund as well as various transfers amongst the funds.' But during this time, the Commissioners Court wasn't given the full picture of the health insurance fund's financial performance. If only employer and employee contributions to the fund are considered, the fund lost more than $10 million between fiscal year 2019-20 and fiscal year 2023-24. To make up for the losses, the county contributed additional monies to cover the deficits. These transfers appear as revenues. 'It obscures to some degree the true reality of the fund performance,' Kincaid said. Kincaid said that $3.75 million in loans and transfers to the account were never brought before the Commissioners Court. 'That's beyond disturbing,' Chesney said, saying that someone will have to be held accountable. Chesney said that the county should budget for forensic audits every few years. Commissioner John Marez called the findings 'staggering.' Commissioner Mike Pusley said that he's long had concerns with purchasing card and fuel card transactions and gift cards. Pusley, a former Corpus Christi City Council member, said that the city's fraud hotline has helped bring problems to light. The city also has an audit committee, Pusley said. 'Maybe those are some things we need to look at,' Pusley said. Scott said that the county has policies in place that county employees were not following. 'Let's make sure we don't create more if there's something (already in place) that we need to enforce,' Scott said. Here's the next nonstop flight out of Corpus Christi International Airport More industrial zoning is ahead for a historically Black neighborhood in Corpus Christi Recall stalled? Next step in effort to remove Kingsville commissioners might be court Corpus Christi City Council approves 2026 budget for crime control, prevention This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Nueces County hears concerning findings from audit of auditor's office Solve the daily Crossword
RNZ News
25-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
ISA launches inquiry into The Metals Company
The International Seabed Authority Council has launched an inquiry into noncompliance by deep sea mining front runner The Metals Company. Tags: To embed this content on your own webpage, cut and paste the following: See terms of use.
RNZ News
23-07-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
International Seabed Authority launches inquiry into deep sea mining firm The Metals Company
The Metals Company Photo: Facebook / The Metals Company The International Seabed Authority (ISA) Council has launched an inquiry into "non-compliance" by deep sea mining front-runner The Metals Company (TMC). The company had previously indicated that it would apply to mine in June through the ISA, despite mining rules not yet being in place. It would do so after triggering a clause known as the "two-year rule". However, TMC is now planning to apply to mine exclusively through United States regulations, circumventing the ISA process. It was made possible by an executive order two months ago issued by President Donald Trump. Duncan Currie, an international environmental lawyer with Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, said the decision for an inquiry, made on Monday, is to find out "the facts and the law in what is a very complex situation". The ISA Council, composed of 36 elected member states, will meet in March 2025 to decide what to do about the findings. Currie said the ISA could suspend or terminate the exploration contracts that TMC has through its subsidiaries if the ISA find noncompliance. Despite applying only through the US, TMC plans on keeping its exploration licenses with the ISA. RNZ Pacific arranged an interview with TMC's chief executive Gerard Barron, who cancelled at the last minute. The ISA Council, composed of 36 elected member states, will meet in March 2025 to decide what to do about the findings. Photo: flickr / ISBA HQ Instead, a TMC spokesperson said its subsidiaries, Nauru Ocean Resources Inc (NORI) and Tonga Offshore Mining Limited (TOML), are in full compliance with their ISA contracts. "All TMC subsidiaries operate legally under international law and under national laws of their respective jurisdictions," they said. The spokesperson said NORI had conducted more offshore research than any other contractor. Currie said he believed it would be very difficult for The Metals Company to mine even if it got a permit under the US regulations. "The first thing is that there's highly likely to be lawsuits in Hawaii, which is the closest jurisdiction [in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone] I think a lot of groups will be challenging the regulations purporting to allow The Metals Company to mine the seabed area." Currie said TMC also relies on Swiss and Dutch company Allseas for mining technology, and Switzerland is "highly unlikely" to allow the company to move against the ISA. He said processing for cobalt and nickel is carried out in China, and if TMC were to proceed through US regulations, a processing facility would need to be developed in the States. "Basically, the world is a complex, interdependent place, and I think that the metals company is not going to find it as easy as they think to just go there, mine the metals and bring them up." The ISA Council finished on Monday and the assembly meeting has since started.
