Latest update November 21st, 2024 1:00 AM
Indigenous Peoples’ Ministry “inadvertently” pays supplier $2.5M instead of $251,200
By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell
The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs has made a major slip that cost taxpayers over $2M. The Ministry paid a dietary supplier over $2.5M for goods worth no more than $251,200. The Ministry is now trying to recover the excess sum from the supplier who readily took the money knowing fullwell that the pay package was supposed to be significantly less.
In his latest report, Auditor General, Deodat Sharma, stated that included in the sum $47.058M expended under dietary for the Amerindian Hostel, $6.759M was paid to a supplier who supplied fruits, greens and vegetables. However, it turned out that $2M of this sum was free money.
Sharma said that an examination of the payment vouchers revealed that a payment voucher was prepared in December 2015 for an amount of $251,200. However, the cheque was processed for $2.512M in January 2016.
It was uplifted by the supplier “without anyone detecting the anomaly between the amount on the payment voucher and the cheque.” The supplier was overpaid by $2.261M.
Sharma reported that further, checks revealed that the details for the payment were entered into the IFMAS on 29 December 2015 by a staff of the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs and the amount of $2.512M was recorded instead of $251,200.
The Auditor General said that the Accountant General’s Department explained that at year end, cheques are prepared for all transactions in the system in order to facilitate the closure of the accounting cycle for that year; hence the variance would not have been detected then.
The Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs told the Auditor General that due to the workload at year end, “the incorrect amount was inadvertently entered and the cheque was paid out by the Ministry of Finance.”
The supplier has since repaid $300,000. The Ministry is to officially write the supplier to have the balance repaid, “failing which legal action would be taken.”
The Audit Office recommends that the amount overpaid be recovered and that systems be put in place by the Ministry and the Accountant General to avoid a recurrence.
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