{"id":14606,"date":"2022-04-22T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T16:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017"},"modified":"2022-04-22T17:24:41","modified_gmt":"2022-04-22T17:24:41","slug":"audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017","title":{"rendered":"AUDIT REPORT SAYS GOV\u2019T WITHDREW D669M WITHOUT APPROVAL IN 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. <\/strong><\/span>The National Audit Office\u2019s summarised audit report on government\u2019s 2017 financial statements has revealed that government made withdrawals amounting to D669 million without approval from the Accountant General. The report said the money was withdrawn from \u201cSpecial Security\u201d accounts which were closed on its [NAO] recommendations but were reopened with the same account name but with a different account number.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could not determine the balance on closure during the audit of these accounts, or whether the funds were used for approved budgeted activities because statements were not provided,\u201d the audit report shared yesterday by NAO at the launching of its Phase 1 audit of Covid-19 procurement and distribution of food and medical items in the Greater Banjul Area. OP<\/p>\n

The report, which was published in 2019 but was only made public yesterday, highlighted that the Office of the President paid a supplier D22.5 million for renovation works at State House through single sourcing, a week after signing the contract, with an excess payment of D424, 680 between the agreed amount and the paid amount. The auditors said another payment of D21.8 million was made to a supplier for delivering furniture, household and other office equipment for the Office of the President, without documentary evidence for the procurement or for choosing that supplier.<\/p>\n

The report further highlighted that a payment of D11.5 million was made to a supplier for the purchase of six vehicles for cabinet ministers without any approval from the Major Tender Board, or for single sourcing by GPPA.<\/p>\n

\u201cReview of further documents showed that this procurement was done through directives issued by OP and bypassed procurement processes,\u201d the audit said. Irregular procurement<\/p>\n

According to the audit report, Office of the President had claimed to have expended about D17 million in purchasing eight vehicles but they later found out that only seven vehicles were purchased.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe detected a high risk of lack of transparency in contracting as the contract may have been awarded after the completion of work. The work was also not certified by the ministry of works. Although GPPA issued no rejection to the procurement, there is a high risk of potential loss of public funds in nontransparent bidding processes,\u201d the report said<\/p>\n

Improper management The auditors added that receipts totaling D183.6 million were held in commercial bank accounts and managed from the Office of the President without any evidence to show that approval was granted by the ministry of finance to use the money for something else, or keep in these accounts.<\/p>\n

In 2017, the auditors added, the government provided loans to State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) amounting to D11 billion without proper record management system to determine outstanding debt balance of the SOEs and the ability to accurately assess the amount of loans each SOE should be given. \u201c[The implication] is that if the SOEs are unable to pay back the loans, the government will have to eventually write them off,\u201d the auditors added.<\/p>\n

The auditors also said in 2017, unbudgeted interest payments were made on government debts amounting to D121.5 million with no clear budget line in the National Assembly approved budget for 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a risk that this amount was misstated and therefore indicates a weak supervision of the budgetary review process,\u201d the auditors said. Launching of report<\/p>\n

Addressing the stakeholders at the launching of the NAO special audit report on the Government\u2019s Covid-19 response Phase 1 (procurement and distribution of food and medical items), the Auditor General, Karamba Touray, said the ultimate goal of the special audit was to track and report on government\u2019s response and measures to the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also meant to hold the government to account in the use of public resources and recommend ways to strengthen the government\u2019s response to this emergency situation, as well as future emergencies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Auditor General added that the report is specific to the procurement and distribution of food and medical items within the Greater Banjul Area and some parts of West Coast Region. Read more on the launching on Monday.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Gambia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Gambia. The National Audit Office\u2019s summarised audit report on government\u2019s 2017 financial statements has revealed that government made withdrawals amounting to D669 million without approval from the Accountant General. The report said the money was withdrawn from \u201cSpecial Security\u201d accounts which were closed on its [NAO] recommendations but were reopened with the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,12],"tags":[2355,2361,3470,6004,260],"class_list":["post-14606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-gambia","tag-audit","tag-d669m","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"\nAUDIT REPORT SAYS GOV\u2019T WITHDREW D669M WITHOUT APPROVAL IN 2017 - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The National Audit Office\u2019s summarised audit report on government\u2019s 2017 financial statements has revealed that governme ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AUDIT REPORT SAYS GOV\u2019T WITHDREW D669M WITHOUT APPROVAL IN 2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The National Audit Office\u2019s summarised audit report on government\u2019s 2017 financial statements has revealed that governme ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T16:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-22T17:24:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6262e4bae8c87.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"AUDIT REPORT SAYS GOV\u2019T WITHDREW D669M WITHOUT APPROVAL IN 2017\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-22T16:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-22T17:24:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017\"},\"wordCount\":691,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2022\/04\/img-6262e4bae8c87.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Gambia\",\"AUDIT\",\"D669M\",\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/audit-report-says-govt-withdrew-d669m-without-approval-in-2017\",\"name\":\"AUDIT REPORT SAYS GOV\u2019T WITHDREW D669M WITHOUT APPROVAL IN 2017 - 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