Debt by Disguise: How PNM Hid US$500 Million in Plain Sight
The Auditor General’s report on Trinidad and Tobago’s 2025 public accounts doesn’t just point to accounting errors, it reads like a warning sign about how public money is being handled.
A qualified opinion is one thing. But when the Auditor General flags TT$36.56 billion in unverified tax revenue and TT$1.59 billion in unsupported expenses, the real message is harder to ignore: this government is not getting basic accountability right. And when accountability breaks down at that scale, taxpayers are left holding the bill, whether it’s waste, mismanagement, or money simply disappearing into the gaps.
Then comes the transparency scandal that should embarrass anyone in public office: records allegedly maintained in pencil, massive and recurring overdrafts, and funds moved or classified in ways that suggest sloppy control, or something worse. The report, as reported by local media, points to misallocated funds and an oversight system that appears incapable of protecting public resources.
This is not a “one-off” problem. The Auditor General describes a wider culture of financial weakness, spending without proper vouchers, repeated accounting discrepancies across state agencies, and failures to stick to procurement rules. That’s not just administrative negligence. It’s the kind of recklessness that makes it easier for overpayments to slip through and harder for the public to ever understand where the money went.
And if you think the story ends in 2025, the Auditor General report adds fuel. TT$78.1 million in housing funds allegedly misused for maintenance. TT$677 million wasted on incomplete school projects. TT$6.8 million in unverified THA travel. And a staggering TT$2.6 billion discrepancy in public asset accounts. This isn’t “government dysfunction.” It’s systemic failure, repeated, documented, and seemingly tolerated.
The former government debt question they keep trying not to show
But the sharpest criticism is reserved for debt reporting.
The report suggests a pattern where obligations are structured or recorded in ways that keep them from appearing transparently in official numbers. It notes that four loans totalling TT$1.75 billion were left out of the official public debt figure of TT$107.1 billion. It also points to a TT$8.9 billion discrepancy involving state-guaranteed loans with no adequate explanation. Meanwhile, the Exchequer is overdrawn by TT$51.94 billion,an increase of 11.55%.
That brings us to the headline issue: the US$500 million (about TT$3.37 billion) arrangement the Auditor General describes as effectively hiding the true debt picture.
This financing, linked to UDeCOTT and its subsidiary POSWDL, was reportedly structured so that a portion of the obligation looks like something else on paper. POSWDL allegedly secured US$500 million from UMB Bank N.A. on February 19, 2025, backed by long-term sublease arrangements, with repayments handled through public money via semi-annual rental payments. The loan, crucially, is presented as not being recorded as formal government debt. The President signed the documents.
That’s the problem. If the State is paying, directly or indirectly, then the public has a right to know the full story. What we’re dealing with here isn’t clever finance. It’s a transparency dodge. The Auditor General’s point about an “indirect obligation” cuts to the core: the government may have found a way to keep some borrowing off the balance sheet, but it hasn’t removed the responsibility, only the clarity.
And the red flags keep coming. The report reportedly states that the first payment (US$245.6 million) was made under a “Rent/Lease” vote rather than a debt service line, muddying what should have been straightforward. It also raises concerns about who signed the voucher and whether proper authority was evidenced. Add to that the lack of a formal government guarantee, and you can see how this arrangement was positioned to look less like debt and more like something politically easier to defend.
At some point, “structured to be off-balance-sheet” starts sounding like a convenient excuse, one designed to reduce public scrutiny while keeping the financial burden alive.
The real takeaway
The Auditor General is doing her job by documenting these issues. The question now is whether government leaders will do theirs: answer the findings, correct the failures, and stop treating public money like it’s optional accountability.
Numerous Government entities given billions' of taxpayers money haven't submitted audited statements over the last 10 years.
Because this report isn’t just about numbers. It’s about trust. And right now, the system isn’t earning it.
How easy it is to blame the present government for the past follies.
Sarge