Auditor General says ministries present forged receipts to fake expenses
The ongoing scrutiny of audit reports which the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) continues to reveal the rot in government ministries, departments and agencies with Auditor General Stepheson Kamphasa suspecting that fake receipts are tendered for auditing purposes to fake expenses.
Kamphasa said some controlling officers deliberately hide documents and forge receipts.
“We always look at the documents as they are and see if they really form part of the answers that the controlling officer is coming forward with,” said Kamphasa after Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Culture officials appeared before PAC.
He continued: “We look at the source of the document, who originated it and how it matches with the information given, If we are to have machines that can even detect [malparctices in] the construction industry to say whether what we are looking at as a building or road are matching with the bills of quantity. If there is a mismatch, we should be able to tell them that this is not correct; we are in a digital world and in order to deal with these matters we need to take proper action on controlling officers who are cheating.”
PAC deputy chairperson Kamlepo Kalua said Parliament should lobby international partners to help National Audit Office to have a modern carbon dating machine to enable the auditors to match the items procured with the bills that controlling officers present.
Kalua said people are “misusing government’s money” and have created a WhatsApp group “to discuss and brainstorm” on answers to give PAC and they present same answers and wording to shield their thieving.
There have been more revelations of plunder in public funds during scrutiny of the 2013/14 financial reports from the National Audit Office (NAO) and now PAC has started analysing expenditures for the 2014/15 financial year when President Mutharika and his DPP administration came to power.
The shooting of former Ministry of Finance budget director Paul Mphwiyo outside the gate of his Area 43 residence in Lilongwe on the night of September 13 2013 is widely believed to have exposed revelations about the plunder of public resources at Capital Hill, widely known as Cashgate.
Former president Joyce Banda, who ascended to the presidency on April 7 2012 in line with constitutional order following the death of Bingu wa Mutharika, ordered a forensic audit which British firm RSM (formerly Baker Tilly) undertook covering a randomly chosen period of six months, between April and September 2013.
The RSM audit established that about K24 billion was siphoned from public coffers through dubious payments, inflated invoices and goods or services never rendered.
In 2015, a financial analysis report by audit and business advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) also established that about K577 billion in public funds could not be reconciled between 2009 and December 31 2014. The K577 billion figure was later revised downwards to K236 billion in another forensic audit.
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chimbatata, munthu kuba ndalama osamuchotsa, business as usual huh! Kulephera anewspaper kulemba ma billion of kwachas being lost, ayi ali grgggrggrgrrrggrgrgrgrgrg kugona tulo. what a waste of resources. MCP will stop Escom and Egenco and opt for Mozambique as our nebor and development partner for electricity all day every day. 2019.
Mr Kamphasa please be honest for once. Why have you not brought this to the attention of the Chief Secretary. I know you are addressing donors for a new contract but be honest by taking to book those Controlling Officers you are accusing of engaging in this type of fraud. Summon PSs to a meeting and mention the Ministries and PSs who are doing this. Why do you bring such issues to PAC and not the auditees themselves. Yes there is fraud but don’t fabricate stories.
The Auditor General’s role is to report financial flaws within MDAs and recommend measures to prevent such malpractices from occurring in future.
Controlling officers are supposed to be summoned to explain all transactions which are suspicious in the eyes of the AG.
Ife anyamata a DEPECO tikubwera kuzakhoza zinthu kumeneko mbava zonse zikalowa
Zonsezi apurezidenti akumva ali du. Koma chunthu ichi nchogunata kwambiri.
Tikubwerako kumeneko 2019 kudzachita kuti mbeeee kuyela anthu ndikumasangala ndi Dziko lawo, la makolo awo. Mbava zonse kukwapula basi
Ku Irrigation and Water Development is rampant.
The fish rots from the head down…and that is what is happening in Malawi. Why stay honest when you see your bosses becoming rich through thieving from public funds?