FPAC continues with its investigation on Auditor General’s report for 2016 |26 May 2018

The heads of four public entities appeared before the Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly yesterday as a continuation of the inquiry into the Auditor General’s report for 2016.

The Seychelles Ports Authority, Electoral Commission, Seychelles Police Force and the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces met the FPAC to clarify certain shortfalls in their organisations identified by the report.

FPAC chair Wavel Ramkalawan however highlighted that the hearing is not only conducted as a means to go over the issues raised in the audit report but also acts as an exercise which aids the concerned entities to improve on their structures.

The Seychelles Ports Authority (SPA) was the first to interact with the committee and its chief executive Colonel Andre Ciseau was questioned by deputy chair, Ahmed Afif, on SPA’s revenue collection system.

Since most of the revenue generated by SPA is actually collected by a private company, namely Land Marine Limited, Hon. Afif wanted to know why the 2016 report identified a lack in cross checking of the cargo handling fees by SPA to ensure accuracy of the monthly collections communicated by Land Marine.

“There was a proposition that SPA should employ people to peruse these documents collected from the Land Marine but we quickly realised that this would require a lot of manpower,” replied Colonel Ciseau.

“Hence we have come to an agreement with Land Marine that will allow for the auditor officer to freely access these information during the auditing process. This comes in the form of a written and official agreement.”

Hon. Ramkalawan also inquired on the state of revenue collection from the boats docked at the Eden Island marina to which Colonel Ciseau responded  that the marina has set up an effective port clearance mechanism especially in regards to international boats.

Yet, he continued, there is a need for SPA to conduct an exercise to identify and coordinate other categories of hire crafts and pleasure vessels. He further acknowledged that there is a great likelihood that the state is currently not collecting its due diligence from some of these vessels.

Colonel Ciseau insisted that this matter should be resolved once the government sets up an authority to deal specifically with this sector.

SPA’s management of its debtors, lack of comprehensive policies regarding lease and property rental and its deficiencies in relations to tax and dividend payouts were also some of the issues tabled yesterday.

The Commissioner of Police Kishnan Labonte and his team were also present to explain the audit report for the Seychelles Police Force and the former National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA), now an integral part of the police force known as the Anti-Narcotics Bureau (ANB).

Christine Dogley, the former personal assistant to the NDEA’s chief executive, was the point person in regards to the members’ queries regarding NDEA’s financial report.

Hon. Afif, who led the exchange, queried Ms Dogley on three payments amounting to R400,250 recorded in the NDEA’s suspense account in 2016 that were not supported by original invoices as well as invoices for 10 payments totaling R680,007 that were not signed by the supplier.

Other discrepancies mentioned included one payment where the supplier did not provide banking details on the invoice and the three missing quotations in relations to procurement of goods and services.

Ms Dogley clarified that these anomalies no longer exist since any payments or procurements conducted by the ex-NDEA now goes through the protocols of the police force, which has been provided with a financial controller by the Ministry of Finance.

Angele Lebon, the director general for human resources and budget management at the police force, was called in to explain some of the improvements being made to the force’s structural and financial framework.

These changes include conducting their banking procedures three times a day to ensure banking is performed on a timely manner as per Financial Instruction 0803, establishing new procedures that has reduced car hire expenditures, and the setting up and use of a new asset management software.

Satisfied with Mrs Lebon’s comprehensive explanations, the FPAC concluded with the SPDF which had to answer questions regarding instances of non-compliance such as the non-payment of Personal Income Tax on some payments to its financial controller and cheques issued prior to receiving invoices.

Chief of Defence Forces Brigadier Leopold Payet assured the FPAC members that the SPDF is currently following the government’s standard operating procedures for payments and procurements.

The FPAC also interacted with the Electoral Commission during yesterday’s sitting (refer to separate story).

The committee is expected to meet the Ministry of Finance, Trade, Investment and Economic Planning and the department of foreign affairs before it starts work on compiling a report for the National Assembly.