Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo has launched a scathing critique of the previous government’s handling of Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL), labeling it as ‘criminal negligence.’ During his 2025/2026 budget presentation in Parliament on October 13, Tancoo revealed that CAL had spent over $60 million on audits conducted by international firms Ernst & Young and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) but failed to submit any audited financial statements for nearly a decade. Despite this lack of transparency, the former finance minister repeatedly approved funding for CAL in 2017, 2018, 2019, and as recently as March 2025 to address operational pressures. Tancoo condemned this oversight, stating that the former administration turned a blind eye as CAL descended into inefficiency, non-compliance, and fiscal indiscipline. To address these issues, Tancoo announced the appointment of a new board tasked with making the tough decisions necessary to restore accountability and efficiency in the national airline. Additionally, the Ministry of Finance is updating the ‘obsolete’ State Enterprise Performance Monitoring Manual, replacing outdated frameworks with modern governance standards to ensure corporate governance, transparency, and value for taxpayers’ money.