Monrovia — Audit report released on the expenditure and administration of the Ministry of Finance covering the periods 2006/2007 by the General Auditing Commission (GAC) says there were irregularities in the payment of domestic debts to claimants.

The report said the Director-General of Debt Management, Mr. Sam Russ, informed GAC auditors that total domestic debt payments made to valid claimants based on the KPMG and Inter-Ministerial Vetting Committee (IVC) listings totaled US$2,693,573.00 as at January 31, 2007.

However, the total reported in the Fiscal Outturn by the Ministry of Finance for the period ending June 30, 2007 was US$ 5,048,907.00.

The GAC said the procedures implemented by the Debt Management Department in the processing of payments to claimants did not involve the verification of claimants' identification documents like business registration forms, identity cards etc. from the issuing organizations, fearing that there is a little assurance that the payments were all made to the right claimants.

The GAC recommended that the Minister of Finance should direct the Director-General of Debt Management, Sam Russ to make available to the GAC documents supporting the payments made so far for scrutiny in accordance with the Executive Law.

To reduce the risk of irregular payments, the GAC pointed out that claimants' supporting documents purported to have been issued from official sources, either in the public or private sector should be verified to provide further assurance that payments are being made to the right claimants.

In response, Finance Ministry authorities explained that apart from the presentation of identity cards and business registration, claimants are also interviewed on the history, nature and basis for the claims.

The Ministry assured the GAC that the complete records will be made available to the GAC for audit after the KPMG review.

But the GAC said in addition to any measures currently being taken, authorities of the Ministry should verify documents presented by claimants from the relevant issuing authorities.

Also, the GAC averred that it requested for 24 months payroll for the period covered by the audit i.e. July 2005 to June 2007 from the Finance Ministry, but only three months payroll, for July, August and September 2006 totaling US$49,149.00 were given to the institution.

The Commission maintained that considering the Fiscal Outturn EDP Payroll expenditure of US$809,283.00 for 2006/2007 fiscal year, payrolls totaling U$760,134.00 for that fiscal year were not submitted to auditors by the Chief Disbursing Officer.

In his letter dated 7 May 2008, Mr. Christian Miller, Chief Disbursing Officer, informed the auditors that he could not make available the payroll for the remaining 21 months because a former Comptroller-General, Gregory M. Johnson, requested for them during his tenure and never returned them.

This assertion, the GAC report added was contrary to his earlier explanation to auditors that paymasters took the payrolls to their various homes after making payments.

The report further indicated that the Personnel Unit of the Ministry did not honor request of GAC auditors for the submission of personnel listings, staff attendance records and other personnel documents.

"Again, the office of the Assistant Minister for Expenditure did not furnish us with evidence of payment of statutory deductions (SSC and PAYE). This was after my officers had made a request to the Assistant Minister and she had referred them to the schedule officer, Mr. Smith of the Check Writing Unit, to give them the records," the report said.

Continuing, the audit report also stated that the total SSC and PAYE deductions for the July, August and September payroll made available to auditors totaled L$20,749,658.00. Thus, by conservative estimates, the total deductions for the 24 months under review could be L$65,997,264. 94.

GAC auditors said they could not obtain the assurance that managerial controls instituted in the Personnel and Payroll Sections were adequate in safeguarding public resources in the payment of salaries and wages to employees of the Ministry.

"There is the risk that the payrolls that were not presented to me amounting to US$760,134.00 (for 2006/2007) and those for 2005/2006 (which I could not quantify because of the unavailability of expenditure reports for that year) might include irregularities which the Chief Disbursing Officer is concealing," the report alleged.

The report said the refusal to provide the audit team with evidence of payment of the PAYE estimated at LD$165,997,264.00 suggests that there might have been irregularities in the management of the deductions and payments of this amount which is being concealed by officials of the Ministry.

The GAC recommended that the Minister of Finance should account for the estimated amount of LD$165,997,264 representing deductions of SSC and PAYE of the Ministry's staff for the period covered by the audit and that the Ministry should ensure that all officers handling personnel, payroll and other related assignments maintain adequate and up to date records and submit these promptly for audit review.

In response, the authorities of the Finance Ministry alleged that it had presented the payrolls for the two years under review to the GAC team and Prince Lighe, the team leader, had signed for them.

But the GAC denied, saying that the Ministry's claim that all the payrolls have been submitted is not correct, stressing that no evidence was produced to support this claim.