Auction scandal: Is the truth deliberately hidden?

Could Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s declaration that he did not have “precise details” about the auction scandal and a similar position reportedly expressed to, at least one of his ministers, be falsehoods?
On Wednesday, December 20, 2017, Browne declared during a press conference that any specific details about the scandal surrounding former Senator Michael Freeland would have to be sought from Freeland.
“I don’t know what you want me to say. I don’t know when the auction took place …. I can’t give you any precise details,” the prime minister declared.
Yesterday, Samantha Marshall, minister of social transformation, told reporters at the post-Cabinet press conference that the prime minister expressed a similar position of ignorance to her, saying that her “understanding” from Browne was that there was “no full reporting provided to him.”
Yet, Raju Boddu, comptroller of customs, stated this week that he submitted a full report to the prime minister back in December – the same time at which the prime minister was supposedly ignorant of the “specific details” of the scandal.
As opposed to a “full report” as stated by Boddu, Marshall said her understanding from the prime minister up to yesterday was that all Browne was ever provided with was “something very brief” on paper, nothing more than “just a note jotted down.”
Meanwhile, Browne the minister in whose ministry the scandal unfolded, has repeatedly refused to answer questions regarding Freeland’s failure in 2016 following an auction, to surrender proceeds of $119,866.50 to the Customs and Excise Division.
The prime minister has never publicly admitted or even suggested that he took any official action whatsoever after the tens of thousands in state money went unaccounted after being left in the possession of one of his senators.
(More in today’s Daily Observer)