Monrovia — The General Auditing Commission (GAC) has questioned the payment of US$5,048,907.00 domestic debt, saying that there were no vouchers to support payments.

The Director-General of Debt Management has therefore been requested to submit to the Commission documents supporting payments of US $5,048,907.00 made so far for scrutiny in accordance with Chapter 59 of the Executive Law of 1972.

An audit report by the GAC also indicated that the Personnel and Disbursement Units of the Ministry did not maintain and, therefore, could not provide auditors with staff and payroll records to enable them undertake an effective review of the staff remuneration system of the Ministry.

It added that supporting documents for payroll expenditure amounting to US$760,134.00 for 2006/2007 fiscal year were not submitted to auditors by the Chief Disbursing Officer for review.

"In the absence of staff list I could not verify the authenticity of general allowance expenditure amounting to US$468,581.00, for the 2006/2007 fiscal year and an undisclosed amount paid in 2005/2006. Also, management did not institute a definite and documented policy on the administration of General Allowances paid to staff. I could therefore not obtain the assurance that the payments were made to genuine staff," the audit said.

The GAC report recommended that the Deputy Minister for Administration should account for the general allowance payments made for the two fiscal years ended June 30, 2007 and that the Minister of Finance should draw up detailed criteria for the selection of beneficiaries of the allowances and the various rates payable.

The audit also uncovered an apparent misuse of fuel amounting to US$644,657.00 procured in the 2006/2007 fiscal year at the Ministry of Finance which is said to be unaccounted for.

The report cited that the absence of controls like fuel distribution registers and log books made it difficult for Finance Ministry authorities to detect and prevent irregular usage of fuel.

The audit report indicated that Deputy Ministers in charge of the three departments at the Ministry should account for the fuel costs of US$644,657.00 for the 2006/2007 fiscal year since it is a fixed asset of the ministry.

The report said management did not institute adequate and effective controls to safeguard fixed assets of the Ministry because the General Services Agency (GSA) was supposed to control assets of all Ministries and Agencies.

The GAC explained that Assets registers were not maintained and the requirement for the coding and marking of fixed assets with the Government of Liberia's unique identification marks were also not strictly enforced.

"I advised management to compile a comprehensive fixed asset register and ensure the coding and marking of all assets of the Ministry by the GSA," GAC auditors stressed.

Also, the GAC audit team disclosed that it did not physically see 29 vehicles assigned to

Officials of the Ministry for which the assignees have been advised to present the vehicles to the GAC for verification.