Dear Office of the Controller and Auditor-General,

Could you please provide:
1) Any advice provided around compliance of government agencies with accounting standards on contingent liabilities estimated and logged on the balance sheets (or notes/footnotes) for the COVID19 vaccine indemnity provided to the manufacturers (or penalty clauses) under the associated contracts (herein referred to as “this area”). This advice might be to the government agency or to Ministers (for example).
2) Any results of audits your entity has undertaken of agencies where an observation or finding has been made in this area.
3) Any copies of Audits undertaken by others (eg in signing off accounts as a true reflection) where comments or findings have been made in this area.
4) Any Records where concerns have been raised about provisions, lack of provision or treatment of the financial risk in this area. This might be from within your office or from third parties (eg emails).

This OIA covers the period leading up to the negotiation and signing of the contract in this area till the present day.

To help focus your search my understanding is that MBIE signed and purchased the vaccines and agencies that might be involved in the implications of the indemnity and any penalty clauses include the areas of Health (higher utilisation from morbidity/mortality), ACC (injuries), Treasury (fiduciary responsibility and govt solvency). There may be others where my understanding is incorrect, or State assets are mentioned in the contract.

For context you may find this OIA interesting and the answer worth tracking. A similar question from another angle.
https://fyi.org.nz/request/24922-conting...

5) Has your office seen the contracts in this area? Do you have copies?

Finally - 6) Does the Auditor General have any concerns about a) these contracts and b) their treatment in the government accounts. What are these concerns (if any). Please provide any additional documentation (not covered above) to illustrate how these concerns have been raised/highlighted.

I am a New Zealand citizen that resides here and pays taxes.

Yours faithfully,
Chris Johnston