Parliament last night voted unanimously to note the content of the Public Accounts Committee’s report on the 2015 audit.

This is both for government ministries and departments.

PAC Chair Alvick Maharaj says a number of issues highlighted in the audit of the 37 ministries and departments have over the years now being resolved.

“Variances were noted between reconciliation prepared by the Ministries and departments and FMI ledger maintained by the Ministry of Economy.  The board of survey was not carried out, financial transactions were not recorded in the FMI’s ledger.  Amounts reflected in the trust and trading manufacturing accounts were not fully supported.  Funds in approved budget estimates for 2015 were used for trust account expenditure and independent stock was not done and ministries and departments concentrated spending on their budget towards end of 2015 thence indicating last of proper financial planning during the year.  This contributed to the significant unpresented cheques at the end of the year, placing an undue stress on the government cash flow at the beginning of 2016.”

However, Opposition MP and PAC member Aseri Radrodro hit out against what he labelled as governance issues with some government ministries which still remains a challenge.

Radrodro also questioning several write-offs that were approved for significant sums, in one case more than $14 million which he claims lacked transparency and wasn’t substantiated.