Tens of thousands in public funds trapped in constituency councils’ bank accounts

Outstanding accounting issues relating to the disbanded Department of Constituency Empowerment are still to be resolved.

Pointing to the fact that the operations of the department were shut down since 2018, Auditor General Leigh Trotman has found that half of the 30 constituency councils’ bank accounts are still open with more than $100,000 in them.

“There were thirty (30) Constituency Councils in operation each with a bank account to facilitate transactions. However, our investigations revealed that a large number of these accounts are still open. The office was provided with statements for fifteen (15) of these councils and the aggregate amount of the sums on these accounts exceeded $100,000,” Trotman revealed.

“Bank account statements were not provided for the other fifteen (15) councils. There needs to be proper accounting for amounts spent from these accounts. Statements, up to the date of cessation, should be provided and after the settlement of any outstanding liabilities the balance should be paid into the Consolidated Fund,” he said in his annual report for 2020, covering the financial year ending March 31, 2019.

He also highlighted other areas of concern relating to the Ministry of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs.

Trotman said that equipment is stored in a number of containers at the ministry’s headquarters and off site.

“However, the Ministry was unable to provide the auditors with a listing of what was stored in the containers. There was also no evidence that periodic checks were carried out to ensure the items were adequately accounted for. The ministry needs to ensure that there is the appropriate Asset Register in place and that it is brought up to date including all relevant items,” the Auditor General declared.

He reported that the Ministry of Energy and Water Resources also has some unresolved accounting issues which need to be addressed.

Trotman noted that the Asset Register contained information relating only to assets purchased for the 2019-2020 financial year which totaled $164,000.

“However, the value of the fixed assets recorded by the Treasury for this ministry totaled $25.4 million. The ministry indicated that it had purchased a number of assets such as a Photovoltaic systems for other ministries and departments but these were not currently included in its records. This matter needs to be resolved so the information of the respective ministries is updated,” the Auditor General reported.
(emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb)