Members of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Public Accounts yesterday quizzed officials of the Sierra Leone Library Board on the findings of the 2011 Audit Service report. The 2011 audit report found that monies received as income in the said year were not deposited into the institution's account, and hence were not reflected in the financial statement as cash-in-hand, bringing about an understatement of the cash and the bank balances. The report further stated that the Library Board does not have an accounting procedure and operational manual to harness the activities of the finance department.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Eric Koedoyoma, underscored that the Sierra Leone Library Board is a key institution in the country, and urged officials to present relevant documents to the Committee in their next appearance.

He emphasised that if the officials fail to submit the said documents in their next appearance, the Committee will invoke the relevant section in the constitution which stipulates the appropriate line of action to follow.

A Committee member, Hon. Hassan Sheriff, questioned the officials on who authorizes disbursement of money for the running of the library, and whether such was sanctioned by any manual. In his response, the Internal Auditor at the Library Board, Daniel Dimoh, explained that he prepares quarterly reports each year, and that the Board receives funds from the Freetown City Council. He claimed that the documents in question are available and promised to present them to the Committee during their next appearance.

Meanwhile, the Committee slammed a 72-hour ultimatum on the managing director of the National Commission for Privatization (NCP) for his failure to appear before them to respond to queries raised in the Audit Service report of 2011, after he was duly ordered to. In that regard, Hon. Koedoyoma vowed that the Committee will act strongly if officials of the NCP fail to appear before them within the next seventy-two hours. He averred that the Committee will not tolerate any excuses from any ministry, department or agency they would summon to Parliament to answer to queries on the damning Audit Service report.