MVR 575m, deducted to cut costs of government offices, was used for other purposes: Audit Report

It has come to light that the MVR 575 million or 10 percent deducted from the budgets of government offices during former President Mohamed Nasheed’s presidency for the purpose of reducing costs was used for other purposes.

This was revealed in the Audit Report of the Ministry of Finance for 2011, issued by the Auditor General last Thursday.

“MVR 9,672,426.88 from the contingent budget, MVR 12,033,323.22 from the amount to be paid for treasury bonds, MVR 4,827,520 from the remaining 11 of the budget and MVR 4,000,000 taken from the budget of 2011 have been deposited to this account,” says the report.

The Audit Report noted that the purpose of deducting the money was to cut costs, but the money was spent anyway; and that this money was released to offices as deemed fit by the Finance Ministry.

The Auditor General had advised to strengthen the procedures for budget management, and notified not to use the money deducted for the purpose of cutting costs. He further advised that, in the event that the deducted money must be utilised, the money should be released to the offices from which it was deducted.