McPherse Thompson, Staff Reporter
THE Auditor-General has advised the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) to recover $308,579 that has been made by the agency for utility bills incurred at the home of a senior officer, in violation of his employment contract.
In his report, tabled in Parliament last week, Auditor-General Adrian Strachan also said there was no evidence that a $2.5 million loan made by the Agriculture Restructuring Company to an officer of the SCJ was being repaid.
The loan was made on the basis that it would attract a rate of interest of five per cent per annum and was repayable between May 1999 and April 2004.
Mr. Strachan did not elaborate further on the nature of the payments the SCJ made for the utility bills of its employee, except to say that "the company was advised to effect recovery."
The report also pointed to another deficiency in the financial accounts of the SCJ, noting that contribution of $8.4 million owed to the company's pension fund for the period since March 1997 remained outstanding.
Deficiencies were also found in the accounting records and financial transactions of the Ministry of Finance and Planning. According to Mr. Strachan's report, at the time of the audit it was discovered that annual returns for education and income taxes deducted from the monthly paid staff had not been submitted since 1995.
It said the Ministry also continued to experience difficulty in obtaining timely and reliable information from ministries and departments to allow verification of claims submitted by the provider for the Government Employees Administrative Services Only (GEASO) health scheme.
During the period under review, Mr. Strachan said, about $847 million was paid in respect of claims totalling $1.21 billion, "but I was unable to determine the amount properly payable." He said the Ministry was advised to explore other means of overcoming the problem and officials subsequently indicated that they would introduce a new system as at April 2002.
The Ministry of Tourism and Sport reported suspected irregularities at its sister agency, the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCo), involving $592,250, the Auditor General also reported.
The irregularities occurred by way of forged signatures on cheques, Mr. Strachan said. TPDCo's internal auditors said those irregularities were facilitated by weaknesses in internal controls over the disbursement process.
At Jamaica Vacations, another Ministry of Tourism and Sport sub-agency, Mr. Strachan reported that one of the company's motor vehicles was involved in an accident on Christmas Day 2000 while it was being driven by the son of an employee. Jamaica Vacations subsequently paid $148,659 to cover damage to the other vehicle in the accident. "It was also noted that the vehicle had no insurance coverage at the time of the accident," said the report. Mr. Strachan said it was recommended that the total cost of the accident should be recovered from the employee.
Another concern Mr. Strachan expressed about the New Kingston-based Jamaica Vacations was that directors' fees of $23,100 were paid to two employees holding executive positions for attending the board's meetings. "This contravened the guidelines stipulated by the Ministry of Finance," said Mr. Strachan, noting that $9,000 was subsequently recovered.
The Auditor-General also pointed out that the Milk River Hotel and Spa in Clarendon, which also falls under the purview of the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, produced no evidence to show that the agency's board had sought the requisite approval from the Ministry of Finance when it increased the emoluments of four employees. "There was also need to improve the controls over a motor vehicle and the disbursement process," the report said.
