By Mabinty M. Kamara
Ahead of the tribunal to investigate the suspended Auditor General, Lara Taylor-Pearce and one of her deputies, Tamba Momoh, the Audit Service Sierra Leone has on the 9th of December 2021 presented the 2020 annual report to the house of parliament.
The report which is published after 12 months of any financial year, is a finding of investigations into public accounts of Sierra Leone and all public offices in the country. The report has over the years revealed anomalies in expenditures of the institutions that are investigated and its release has always sparked public debate on how the nation’s resources and institutions are being managed and used for their intended purposes.
The 2019 report revealed irregularities in expenditures, and Anomalies in the Banking of Revenue. A part of that report stated: “Some airlines and their agents claimed to have paid Foreign Travelling Taxes (FTT) amounting to Le3.2 billion into a Zenith Bank and Standard Chartered Bank accounts. Our review found that such amounts were not reflected in the bank statements, even though
receipts were issued to the taxpayers.” Procurement of goods and services worth Le.21 billion was reportedly not captured in the procurement plans of both the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the Ministry of Water Resources. Losses in respect of cash irregularities identified in the course of the audit amounted to Le177.5 billion. “These
losses are in respect of the GPFS (NRA) Local Councils, Public Enterprises, and Ministries, Department, and Agencies,” it noted. The report also revealed Irregularities in the exportation of Timber and a cash loss of Le5.28 billion in 22 local councils among other issues raised in the report.
The 2020 report was released weeks after the suspension of Lara Taylor-Pearce and deputy Momoh . The report according to a statement from the Audit Service will be published after it has been laid in parliament.
Copyright © Politico Online 10/12/21
