$2.5M in vouchers at Legal Affairs ministry unauthorised
-Auditor General's report
Stabroek News
January 19, 2004
Some 50 vouchers totalling $2.5 million for which there was no authority to pay were unearthed at the Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Auditor General's 2002 report said.
In addition, unused receipts and cheque books were kept under the control of the officer who also prepares and issues receipts and cheques.
Auditor-General (acting) Balraj Balram said in the report that there should be segregation of duties over the control and issue of receipts and cheques for control purposes. The report of the Auditor General was laid in the National Assembly on November 24.
The report said too that cheques written for material amounts were not crossed "Account Payee Only", nor were cheques received crossed on receipt.
According to the report, the salaries bank account No. 3120 reflected a balance of $5.7 million as at December 2002 and was reconciled up to June 2003. However, the report states that there were differences for each month during the period under review. The report says that these balances should be investigated and cleared.
The Auditor General also picked up discrepancies in the Public Trustees bank account No. 270 in that it reflected a balance of $23.5 million, as at December 31, 2002, though it was reconciled for the period under review. However, an examination of the reconciliation statements revealed that there were balances that were not reconciled for each month during the period under review. The report recommends that these balances be investigated and cleared.
The Deeds Registry received a total of 3,684 applications for the period under review with respect to the registration of business names, the report states. But 1,015 applications were not produced for audit examination. The report states that as a result, the fees payable on those applications could not be properly verified.
The Auditor General's report also made the observation that in 11 instances, the Deeds Registry issued certificate numbers twice for different businesses.
Out of a total of 137 applications for registration of companies, nine files were not produced for audit, the report states. In addition to this, for about 25% of the transactions, the company register was not properly written up to indicate duty and fees paid.
The report said too that for 2002, 495 applications for trademarks were received, four of which were not presented for audit. But the report stated that no licences were issued for those applications. The Accounting Officer said that this was due to a large backlog of applications because of staff constraints.