BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
No accountability for the productive and resource sector grants under the covid-19 Economic stimulus package, the OAG ESP audit report has found.
This is a major and continuing breakdown of internal control and represents a major fraud risk, said Auditor General David Dennis.
According to the OAG 2020-201 audit report the grants were paid through three different mechanisms under the productive and resource sector.
“Some were paid through the MoFT payment system either to recipients directly or to local business to buy goods, some were paid in cash being processed through Imprest Account and some were paid through Constituency Development Fund,” Dennis said.
Based on the breakdown of the payment methods, the total amount paid through the Treasury corporate services Imprest Account for 369 payment accounts for $33,547,270.
The OAG report further found that the amount paid to constituency offices accounts for $41,254,635 for 115 payments and $59,986,256 paid directly to businesses.
For the three methods of payment, it has a total of $134,788,161 accounts for a total of 1999 payments.
Most of the payment meanwhile were signed for by three officers – one of the officers signed for 251 cheques with a total value of $ 6.8 million.
“There was no further accountability for these payments,” Dennis said.
The report also showed that out of the $14 million paid to Constituency Development Offices (CDO) to support infrastructure developments, 24 payments were awarded to CDO where the MP was a Minister of the Government.
“None of these payments went to offices where the MP was a member of the opposition,” said Teika.
Further, a further $5 million was paid to the Development Bank of Solomon Islands (DBSI) and was recorded as being for infrastructure which was not specified in the ESP Booklet.
The audit report also showed that cash grants totalling $33 million were paid to farmers and local produce-handling businesses and $7 million to tourism operators.
“However, applications were not always filed with payment forms or payment documentation. The payment process breached expected internal control procedures in that officers personally signed for beneficiaries but provided no evidence that they handed the payment to the designated person.
“This was a significant breakdown of internal control- allowing government officers to sign for payment for beneficiaries who may not even be aware they are due to receive payment or how much they are to receive was a major fraud risk.”
