Audit report finds HRCM spent Rf133,639 in violation of public finance regulations

The audit report of the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) has revealed that the office has spent a total of Rf133,639 (US$ 8666) in violation of the public finance regulation during 2010.

In the report published on Sunday, Auditor General (AG) Ibrahim Niyaz revealed that the commission spent Rf127,939 on the UNDP project “Collaborating with Civil Society” and Rf5700 on “Strengthening the Administrative Functioning of the Commission” in violation of section 4.01 of the public finance regulation.

According to the report, the money was spent on a reimbursement basis; however the AG noted that it was not repaid till 29 September 2011.

HRCM however informed auditors that the money was deposited to the state’s income account. The Commission also assured the auditors that reimbursement mechanism would be improvised.

The report further reads that the auditors identified several outstanding bills for items and services purchased by the commission in 2010 – which the commission members were unaware of prior to the audit.

Therefore the AG concluded that the internal control system established within the commission to monitor the authenticity of financial statements was “not functioning properly”.

Furthermore, the report noted that a total of Rf44,746, which was stolen from the commission’s safe in 2008, still remains unaccounted for.

The money was stolen without any damage to the safe; hence the two members of the staff who knew the secret code to the safe should take responsibility for the theft, Niyaz claims in the report.

He also told the commission to recover the money from the two staff and reimburse it to the budget.

However, the commission noted that the police investigations had initially revealed that a double key to the safe was in the office key holder and four staff knew the combination to the safe – therefore, the commission could take no action until the negligent or responsible party is found by the police, the commission told the auditors.

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