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Audit Office Ordinance 1961

CONSOLIDATED ACTS OF SAMOA 2009

AUDIT OFFICE ORDINANCE 1961

Arrangement of Provisions

1. Short title
2. Commencement
3. Interpretation
4. Controller and Chief Auditor
5. Repealed
6. Repealed
7. Repealed
8. Acting Controller and Chief Auditor
9. Salary and allowances of Controller and Chief Auditor
10. Audit of accounts
11. Delegation of powers
12. Inspectors
13. Regulations
14. Controller and Auditor-General
15. Enactments amended
16. Repeals and Savings
Schedule

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THE AUDIT OFFICE ORDINANCE 1961
1961 No. 27

AN ORDINANCE to consolidate certain enactments relating to the establishment of the Audit Office and associated matters.

[29 December 1961]
[Commencement date 1 January 1962]

1. Short title - This Ordinance may be cited as the Audit Office Ordinance 1961.

2. Commencement - This Ordinance shall come into force on the 1st day of January 1962.

3. Interpretation - In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Constitution" means the Constitution of the Independent State of Samoa.

4. Controller and Chief Auditor - There shall be a Controller and Chief Auditor who shall be appointed by the Head of State, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister.

5. Repealed by the Constitution Amendment Act 1997 (No. 3).

6. Repealed by the Constitution Amendment Act 1997 (No. 3).

7. Repealed by the Constitution Amendment Act 1997 (No. 3).

8. Acting Controller and Chief Auditor - (1) The Head of State, acting on the advice of the Prime Minister, on the occurrence from any cause of a vacancy in the Office of the Controller and Chief Auditor may appoint an Acting Controller and Chief Auditor who shall have and may exercise all the powers, duties and functions of the Controller and Chief Auditor.

(2) The fact that the Acting Controller and Chief Auditor exercises any power, duty or function of the Controller and Chief Auditor shall be conclusive evidence of his or her authority to do so.

9. Salary and allowances of Controller and Chief Auditor - (1) There shall be paid to the Controller and Chief Auditor out of the Treasury Fund and be statutory expenditure a salary at the rate of $33,000 as from the 25th day of November 1991 down to and inclusive of the 12th day of May 1992, and at the rate of $41,925 a year thereafter.

(2) There shall be paid to the Controller and Chief Auditor:

(a) An allowance free of tax at the rate of $8,000 a year as from the 25th day of November 1991 down to and inclusive of the 12th day of May 1992, and at the rate of $10,000 a year thereafter;

(b) Where the Controller and Chief Auditor is recruited from overseas, other normal allowances, rights and privileges as determined by the Public Service Commission as being applicable to other officers of the Public Service recruited from overseas and including any other allowances payable to the Controller and Chief Auditor from overseas aid funds not being payable under this Act.

(2A) In addition to the salary the Controller and Chief Auditor shall be entitled to such additional benefits as may be determined from time to time by Cabinet, and the provisions of subsection (3) shall apply to such benefits as if they formed part of the salary.

(3) The salary of the Controller and Chief Auditor shall not be diminished during his or her period of office unless as part of a general reduction of salaries applied proportionately to all persons whose salaries are determined by Act.

10. Audit of accounts - (1) The Controller and Chief Auditor shall audit the Treasury Fund, such other public funds or accounts as may be established, the accounts of all Departments and offices of executive government and the accounts of such other public, statutory or local authorities and bodies where provided by Act.

(2) The Controller and Chief Auditor shall report at least once annually to the Legislative Assembly on the performance of the functions under Article 99 of the Constitution and shall in his or her report draw attention to any irregularities in the accounts audited by him or her.

11. Delegation of powers - (1) The Controller and Chief Auditor may from time to time, either generally or particularly, by writing under his or her hand, delegate to any officer of the Audit Office all or any of the powers exercisable by the Controller and Chief Auditor under any Act, except this present power of delegation.

(2) Subject to any general or special directions given or conditions imposed from time to time by the Controller and Chief Auditor, the officer to whom any powers are delegated under this section may exercise those powers in the same manner and with the same effect as if they had been conferred on him or her directly by this section and not by delegation.

(3) Every person purporting to act pursuant to any delegation under this section shall, in the absence of proof to the contrary, be presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation.

(4) Any delegation under this section may be made to a specified officer or specified officers, or to the holder or holders for the time being of a specified office or class of offices.

(5) Unless and until any delegation under this section is revoked, it shall continue in force according to its tenor. In the event of the Controller and Chief Auditor by whom any such delegation is made ceasing to hold office, it shall continue to have effect as if made by the person for the time being holding office as Controller and Chief Auditor.

(6) Every delegation under this section shall be revocable at will, and no such delegation shall prevent the exercise of any power by the Controller and Chief Auditor.

12. Inspectors - The Controller and Chief Auditor may, by writing under his or her hand, from time to time appoint any officer of the Audit Office or other fit person to inspect, examine, and audit any books, accounts, or stores which are required to be inspected, examined, or audited by this Act or any other Act or by regulations, and to report thereon to the Audit Office; and for the purposes of any such inspection and report any such officer or other person shall have power to inspect all books, accounts, vouchers, and other papers relating thereto.

13. Regulations - The Head of State, acting on the advice of Cabinet, may from time to time by Order make all such regulations as are deemed necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving full effect to this Ordinance and for the due administration thereof, and, in particular for the audit of the Government of Samoa accounts, public money, and stores.

14. Controller and Auditor General - Notwithstanding the repeal or amendment of any enactment by this Ordinance the Controller and Auditor-General appointed under the provision of Part II of the New Zealand Public Revenues Act 1953 may continue to exercise and perform all the powers and functions conferred on him or her by any Act until the duties impose thereby have been completed in respect of any period before the date this Ordinance comes into force, and for that purpose any such Act shall be deemed to continue in force until such duties have been completed by him or her.

15. Enactments amended - The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Ordinance are hereby amended in the manner indicated therein.

16. Repeals and savings - (1) Section 43 of the Samoa Amendment Act 1957 (N.Z.) is hereby repealed.

(2) Notwithstanding the repeal or revocation of any enactment by the Independent State of Samoa Act 1961 (N.Z.) the provisions of the Samoa Audit Regulations 1960 (N.Z.), as amended by this Ordinance, shall by virtue of Article 111 of the Constitution continue to apply as part of the law of Samoa on and after the 1st day of January 1962.

Section 15

SCHEDULE

ENACTMENTS AMENDED

Part of this Schedule was amended by s.34(b) of the Reprint Statutes (Miscellanous Provisions) Act 1975, and the balance was impliedly revoked by regulation 19 of W.S.R. 1976/21.

REVISION NOTES 1997

The Audit Office Ordinance 1961 in this reprint comprised that Ordinance as it appears in the 1977 reprint amended as indicated below:

Section 9: Has been amended in 1978, 1980, 1984, 1989 and eventually in 1992/1993, and the present section 9 is as amended by the Audit Office Amendment Act 1992/1993.

REVISION NOTES 2008

This law has been generally edited as provided for by section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008. The following general revisions have been made –

(a) References to Western Samoa have been amended to Samoa in accordance with an amendment to the Constitution of Samoa in 1997.

(b) The fines have been amended and are stated as penalty units as provided for by the Fines (Review and Amendment) Act 1998.

(c) All references to the male gender have been made gender neutral.

(d) Amendments have been made to conform to modern drafting styles and to use modern language as applied in the laws of Samoa.

(e) Amendments have been made to up-date references to offices, officers and statutes.

(f) Other minor editing has been done in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General.

The following amendments have been made to specific sections of the Act to incorporate amendments made by Act of Parliament passed since the publication of the Western Samoa Statutes Reprint 1978-1996 –

Sections 5, These sections were repealed by the Constitution

6 and 7 Amendment Act 1997 (No. 3).

Section 9 The salary entitlements prescribed in this section were increased in accordance with the provisions of the General Wage Increase (Public Officeholders and Public Servants) Act 2001.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2007. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by Graham Bruce Powell
Under the supervision of Lalotoa Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel)

REVISION NOTES 2008 No. 2

The general powers of the Attorney General under section 4 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 is used to insert the commencement date. There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2008. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel).

REVISION NOTES 2009

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2009. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

The Audit Office Ordinance 1961 is administered in the Ministry of Finance.