A combination of a lack of proper procedures and coordination, wastage and disregard of accounting practices has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars, even amounting to millions in tax dollars, being spent by government employees.

The Public Accounts Committee which has just completed analyzing the 2006 Auditor General's Report has revealed a number of irregularities in how government workers managed tax dollars in a number of departments and ministries.

Their latest report looks at the Elections Office, the RFMF, the Fiji Police Force, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Foreign Affairs Ministry amongst others.

Looking at the Elections Office, it is stated that there were excessive printing of ballot papers for the 2006 elections.

2,820,280 ballot papers were printed in contrast to the total registered voters of 959,405, which resulted in wastage of public funds and also indicated poor planning.

Apart from that, there were unaccounted fixed assets, excessive purchase of stationary, missing mobile phones and laptop computers and other issues.

According to the 2006 Auditor General's Report and the Public Accounts Committee report obtained by Fijivillage, the Elections Office failed to properly account for all items purchased for the 2006 elections.

The discrepancy totaled $64,546 and was not recorded in the fixed assets register.

Allowances were also paid to officers, who did not qualify for overtime pay during the general elections, amounting to $65,172 in December 2005 and $320,430 in November 2006.

Poor coordination and communication also resulted in the purchase of excess stationary maintained at the District Offices and the Elections Regional Offices amounting to 54 thousand dollars.

Then there are the unaccounted mobile phones and laptop computers bought with taxpayers’ money.

18 mobile phones were purchased for the 2006 elections without the approval of the Finance Ministry and upon the completion of the elections, 10 mobile phones were not returned.

There were 43 laptop computers purchased for the 2006 elections at a cost of $87,737 and upon the completion of the General Elections, 8 laptop computers valued at $17,741 were unaccounted for.  

Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee reports on the Immigration Departments affairs in 2006 highlights the need for a major review of the systems and put in place stringent measures to avoid exploitation of any loopholes that exist.

This recommendation comes as Immigration officers investigate a major human trafficking scam in Fiji involving frontline Immigration and Customs officers.

The Accounts Committee said the efforts by the department to identify and promptly remove illegal immigrants should be improved and strengthened if issues raised on the systems in place were to be avoided.

The committee said the laxity of the department to effectively carry out its role would result in the increase in the number of illegal immigrants and the possibility of scrupulous people exploiting and manipulating the system.

The committee also notes in its 2006 report that a major concern in the Immigration Department was the bond money which had been deposited in the Departments Trust Account at Westpac Bank since 1982.

The committee discovered that the current balance was approximately $10.5 million and the Committee said it was disturbing to learn that since 1982, the fund at Westpac was non-interest bearing until July 2008 when it began to incur an interest rate of 0.015 percent and the reason for that was because the money was public funds and to comply with the Finance Ministry policy, it was supposed to be non-interest bearing.

However, the Committee feels that the policy in not allowing interest on deposits on public funds is illogical as the bank would be making money by lending from deposits of public funds.

The Accounts Committee has also raised concerns on the arrears in revenue which had consistently increased within the Immigration Department from 2004 to 2006.

The arrears comprised of dishonored cheques, misappropriation of revenue, misplaced deposits and overpayment in the refund of bonds.

It notes that the department has since disciplined the officer responsible for the misappropriation by terminating his employment.