Mr. Michael Howard:

I was very concerned by letters that were written by Mr. Culhane to Mr. Kelly in the course of the audit. I was advised it is not for me, as chairman, to interfere with anybody's right to comment on the report while it was there. In March I wrote a brief email to Mr. Culhane simply saying to him that I considered the letters were an inappropriate intervention. They had been copied to me and there was a letter sent to me which made certain requests of me, which I felt were not appropriate for somebody who was the subject of the audit. When our process completed, I wrote to the Commissioner as my term was ending because I felt I was under a duty to protect the independence of the internal audit function. I should inform the committee I have written to the Commissioner and handed it on as an issue to Dr. Cyril Sullivan, who has replaced me as the chairman.