Reiterates that government should come up with clearer guidelines on hospitality and entertainment expenses
The Royal Audit Authority (RAA) reported total irregularities amounting to Nu 3,961.136 million (M) in the financial year 2023-24. Comprising it, the cases of fraud and corruption accounted for 0.40 % aggregating to Nu 15.762 million (M) of which the Pemagatshel Dzongkhag Administration, including Dungkhag and Gewogs, largely attributed to Milk Processing Units had the highest irregularities amounting to Nu 4.738M followed by Samtse Dzongkhag Administration, including Dungkhags and Gewogs with Nu 3.891M representing 30.06% and 24.68% respectively.
Non-compliance with laws, rules and regulations cases accounted for 55.76% aggregating to Nu 2.208.794M. Of this, Department of Infrastructure Development, Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MoIT) had the highest irregularities amounting to Nu 344.403M followed by State Trading Corporation of Bhutan Limited (STCBL) with Nu 328.732M representing 15.59% and 14.88% respectively.
The cases of shortfalls, lapses and deficiencies accounted for 43.84%, totaling Nu 1,736.580M, the highest irregularities pertained to the Punatsangchhu Hydroelectric Project Authority – II with Nu 551.344M followed by State Mining Corporation Limited (SMCL) with Nu 497.177M representing 31.75% and 28.63% respectively.
The Authority was also able to recover a total sum of Nu 405.302M through the audits carried out during the year. Nu 7.642M was recovered into respective Audit Recoveries Account of the FIs and Corporations, Nu 194.435M recovered into the Audit Recoveries Account and transferred to the Government Budget Fund, Nu 1.635M recovered from ongoing ADB projects and refunded to respective projects and, Nu 201.590M recovered/adjusted from Running Account Bills of hydropower projects.
During the year, the RAA was able to resolve a total of 7741 outstanding audit observations through rigorous follow-up review meetings held across 20 Dzongkhags, three Thromdes and two Ministries. Across 91 works were rectified, 150 administrative actions recommended across 33 agencies and 51 administrative actions taken.
“We are happy to note that looking at the trends in irregularities over the past 4 years, the overall irregularities have been reducing over the years reflecting improved compliances to the extant norms, laws, rules and regulations of the government arising from the positive improvements in the objectivity and integrity of the public servants,” Auditor General, Tashi, said during a press conference while releasing the annual report on Wednesday.
The annual financial statement of the government during the year comprised of a revised budget of Nu 77,076.936M, actual expenditure of Nu 70,223.000M, revised capital budget of Nu 32,949.727M, actual capital expenditure of Nu 26,798.396M, underutilised capital budget of Nu 6,151.331M million (18.67 % of revised capital budget).
In addition, based on the insistence of RAA, 12 cases of works that were kept incomplete were made to complete and 91 cases of construction works have been rectified. The RAA has also recommended Administrative Actions against 150 officials across 33 agencies and as of today, they have taken Administrative Actions against 51 officials. “Besides, there are also many instances of improvement in business processes and cases where compliances have been assured. We are also pleased to note that we have resolved 91% of the total outstanding audit observations pertaining to the financial years from 2010 to 2023 through vigorous follow-up exercise which also involved visiting all 20 Dzongkhags, three Thromdes and 2 Ministries,” the report stated.
The Annual Audit Report 2023-2024 was compiled from 228 audit reports containing audit findings. The summary includes gist of all unresolved audit findings reported during the period.
Meanwhile, there are 7 recommendations drawn on the basis of the overall findings and deficiencies noted in the operations of audited agencies during the year. It is also based on the experiences and observed issues that require to be addressed through appropriate interventions. The recommendations provided in the AAR are; government should focus on quality constructions; government should enforce robust mechanism and stricter measures to curb excess payment in public procurement; need to ensure strict adherence to specification of Granular Sub-Base (GSB) works for farm roads; need to reinforce the administration of leasing government lands; need to address the issue of wasteful expenditures in government and public agencies; need to enforce strict compliance to price adjustment clause to avoid inadmissible payments; and government should come up with a clear guidelines on hospitality & entertainment expenses.
By Tashi Namgyal from Thimphu
