Serious concerns have been highlighted by the Public Accounts Committee that most ministries and departments had not taken any action in implementing the recommendations of the Auditor General in relation to how public funds have been handled by civil servants.
The committee after assessing the Economic Services Sector Report for 2006 said disciplinary cases for instance, were not followed up by the Ministries with either the Solicitor General or the Police.
Public Accounts Committee Member, Taufa Vakatale said this mentality needs to change.
Vakatale said it also appears that some Ministries or Departments were simply satisfied with transferring the offending officer away as a form of disciplinary action.
Vakatale said the Accounts Committee has also noticed that disciplinary action taken on misappropriation of funds often resulted only in the officer being dismissed from the service without the case being referred to the courts for the recovery of lost revenue.
The committee report states that most of the department's senior management were new to their current positions and were not in those positions at the time of the audit.
However committee said it continues to reiterate that irrespective of whether they were in that position or not at the time of the audit, they had the responsibility as post holders to respond to the Auditor General's report.
Public Accounts Committee raises serious concern
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