Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE government could have lost over M13 million through dubious payments to Covid-19 quarantine facilities at the height of the pandemic. Apart from hotels and lodges being hired without following procurement procedures, some allegedly took advantage of the chaos to fleece the government of millions.
They did this by invoicing the government for Covid-19 suspects they never housed. Others cheated the system and defeated the purpose of the quarantine by housing more than one suspect in a room.
They would then charge the government per head instead of the agreed rate which was per room. So instead of getting paid the standard M1 000 per room per day, they would claim M2 000 if they had two people in a room.
This means that the facilities were bilking the government and possibly contributing to the spike in Covid-19 infections they were being paid to contain as quarantine facilities.
While the overcrowding of rooms was clear fraud, invoicing the government for ‘ghost’ patients was more pernicious. It means they never attempted to provide the quarantine services but still demanded payment from the government.
The details of this brazen looting were revealed during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing this week. The dubious and fraudulent payments were made to quarantine centres between 2020 and 2021.
The committee heard that some of the facilities did not provide lists of the people they quarantined but were still paid millions. The Ministry of Health’s forms were designed to show particulars of the name, identity numbers, next of kin, home, telephone numbers and signatures of those quarantined at the facilities.
This was meant for the facilities to account for the number of people they admitted and for the government to trace some of the suspects as part of the fight against the pandemic.
The PAC however heard that some of the forms that facilities submitted as part of their invoices did not have all the details. Some were not signed while others did not have names at all.
The PAC chairperson ’Machabana Lemphane-Letsie said this could have resulted in some facilities charging the government for “ghost suspects”. “The review noted that there were cases where the quarantined people did not sign the forms,” Lemphane-Letsie said.
She said the sample of records examined revealed that payments of more than M13 million in accommodation and meals were paid without a list of people who were quarantined.
She demanded to know why the Ministry of Health could have paid facilities without the list of those quarantined. The Ministry of Health’s Primary Healthcare Director Dr ’Makhoase Ranyali conceded that “it is highly possible that we paid ghosts”.
“I agree that such things are possible chairperson, we usually do follow-ups to find out the truth,” Dr Ranyali said.
She also told the committee that some questions would rather be answered by one of their senior accountants of the time, Lisebo Mahalika. Mahalika kicked the ball back to Dr Ranyali.
“We asked our manager Dr Ranyali why the list does not have signatures and other particulars and they told us that the list was done by the facility owners, and we should pay,” Mahalika said.
Her response enraged Lemphane-Letsie who asked her if she knew her responsibility as she continued to pay despite lack of proper particulars. Another committee member, Thabiso Lekitla, asked Mahalika to tell the committee the exact words that were used by Dr Ranyali when she instructed them to pay the facilities without the lists.
Mahalika first said she had forgotten but later said “I will tell the committee in camera”. A committee member, ’Mamarame Matela, said it was shocking that the ministry relied on the facilities to register people they admitted.
“How can verbal communication alone convince you to pay M13 million, for a service that might not have been rendered at all?” Matela asked.
The PAC is relying on the Auditor General’s report that painted a picture of a chaotic procurement system that allowed people to loot Covid-19 funds when the government was struggling to fund the fight against the pandemic.
The report said some quarantine facilities were paid without ‘initialised’ lists while others received double payments. The report said six facilities were overpaid by nearly M3.2 million by charging per head instead of per room, invoicing for more days and claiming payments for services that had already been paid for.
For instance, Mountain View Hotel was overpaid by nearly just over M1.3 million while Khali Hotel received M625 000 more than it deserved. Mount Maloti Hotel was overpaid by M637 000 and Aloes Lodge by M574 000.
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