‘Over E7m Maputo revenue not remitted’

MBABANE – Auditor General (AG) Timothy Matsebula said that he was concerned that revenue collections were not remitted to the general accountant.

“I am concerned that the revenue collections were not remitted to the General Account at the Central Bank of Eswatini and not accounted for by the ministry. The revenue collections remain unrecognised as revenue and not banked by the government,” the AG pointed out.

Consequently, government was deprived revenue and cash collected by the Maputo High Commission, and the liabilities of the government are overstated by the same amount.

Previous

“I noted that the audit query raised in the previous year on unaccounted for cash in respect of Maputo Revenue collections amounting E7 057 850.58 was not resolved by the ministry; as such, the unaccounted for cash balance as at March 31, 2022 remained the same as that of the previous year,” reads the report from the auditor general.

The AG reported that at the Responsibility Centre Account Item Credit Balance (E) 1206: Maputo High Commission 50106: Maputo Revenue Account 7 057 850.58, Section 0501 (i) of the Financial and Accounting Instructions (1970) stipulates that: “It is the duty of accounting officers to ensure that revenue due is collected promptly and that all collections of revenue are promptly brought to account.

“I advised the controlling officer that the ministry should investigate and recover the public funds from the implicated officers, and correctly account for the funds collection by charging the Revenue Miscellaneous Sundries. In response, the controlling officer concurred with my findings on the matter and explained that investigations were still ongoing with the Treasury Department to bring this matter to finality,” the AG further stated.

Captured

According to the records, the above transaction was erroneously captured during reconciliation of embassies’ bank accounts in the financial year which ended March 31st, 2006. The office of the Accountant General had requested the ministry to submit documents wherein the initial transaction was prepared in order to assist; however, investigations to get the requested documents were unsuccessful.

“The response of the controlling officer is noted; however, at the time of concluding this report, the matter had not been resolved,” pointed out the AG.