Commonwealth rocked by toxic dispute on eve of crucial summit

Clash over ‘suppressed’ review of funding could be final blow to Baroness Scotland’s leadership

THE Commonwealth Secretary General has been accused of suppressing a report that criticises her administration as a toxic row flared on the eve of the organisation’s most important summit in years.

The Prince of Wales, who is representing the Queen in her role as Head of the Commonwealth, flew into Rwanda yesterday to find the gathering engulfed by infighting ahead of its official opening tomorrow.

Baroness Scotland, the Secretary General, is said to be withholding the results of an independent review of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s finances, according to a furious letter from the chairman of its oversight body.

But allies of the Labour peer have hit back by suggesting her enemies have concocted the argument in order to undermine her as she seeks re-election.

It comes just days after Lady Scotland’s camp accused Boris Johnson of pursuing a “vendetta” against her, following a series of controversies that have blighted her term of office.

Lady Scotland’s future will be decided at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) when she stands for re-election later this week.

Mr Johnson wants her out, and the UK is one of seven member states that has already declared support for rival candidate Kamina Johnson Smith, the Jamaican foreign minister. In a letter addressed to Commonwealth governors and seen by the BBC, Kevin Isaac, chairman of the Commonwealth Board of Governors, said her refusal to hand over the report was “an affront” to the board’s authority and showed “indifference” to its oversight remit.

The secretariat said it had “factual concerns” about the report which it was pursuing with the authors, and supporters of Lady Scotland suggested Mr Isaac’s letter “was deliberately written so it could be leaked and cause damage”.

Two years ago Britain, Australia and New Zealand suspended voluntary payments to the secretariat because of questions over its financial procedures.

Lady Scotland was criticised by auditors for waiving procurement rules 50 times, including the award of a lucrative contract to a company run by a friend.

Earlier this year the board asked the secretariat to commission a review into its financing following a drop in funding from member states from £50million to £30million over the past decade.

The accountancy firm Ernst & Young (EY) delivered its report on June 1, but

‘It is not an investigation into our finances and it is disappointing some might try to spin it that way’

the secretariat has declined to share it with the governors.

By convention, an incumbent secretary general is reelected unopposed if they stand for a second term. Lady Scotland’s term has already been extended by two years from her initial four-year tenure because the Rwanda summit, originally scheduled to take place in 2020, was postponed until now because of the coronavirus pandemic.

A Commonwealth source with knowledge of the issues said: “This is a draft report … commissioned to assess a range of options and mechanisms for the long-term sustainable funding of the secretariat. It is not an investigation into our finances and it is disappointing some might try to spin it that way.

“We have strong technical and factual concerns which we have raised with Ernst & Young.

“We are working with Ernst & Young on this to make sure the draft report fulfils the terms of the contract.”