The latest Public Accounts Committee report has highlighted some serious concerns on the way public funds were used by the Social Welfare and Poverty Alleviation Ministry in 2006.
The committee said it considers the use of an Open Local Purchase Order by the Minister for Women and Social Welfare in 2006 to a local hardware company for the purchase of roofing iron for the Nakorolevu Housing Project as a very serious case to defraud the government.
The Public Accounts Committee said the issue is of particular concern as the Local Purchase Order was open and it was written out just before the 2006 general elections.
The Purchase Order was issued to then Minister from the Small Grants Section of the Prime Minister's Office on 30th November 2005.
The Committee said to aggravate the situation the balance in the fund was far less than the order. The Public Accounts Committee said in its opinion, it was a blatant use of public funds to finance a development in the Minister's own village and to gain political mileage.
There were also discrepancies noted in relation to Voucher Books of the Ministry.
There was no reconciliation of uncollected voucher books at the end of collection period at the Suva Welfare Office and the uncollected voucher books for June to December 2006 were not under lock and key but were in cartons and cabinets.
The committee said monitoring of Poverty Alleviation Projects was rarely carried out by Divisional Offices and they offices often relied on NGO's to implement and monitor projects.
The committee reveals that the NGO's were not providing acquittals in a timely manner.
The audit also revealed that 28 applications were received and approved in 2006 which were direct referrals from a former Minister. It said cabinet approved procedures for Poverty Alleviation Projects were not followed.
