According to the 2016 State audit, the Sierra Leone Police (SLP) generated Le4,000,759,885 in revenue for various chargeable services. And, the State audit found the Police have been utilizing the revenue without written approval from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED). The Report indicated the revenue was retained in contradiction of the Public Financial Management Act 2016 (PFM).
Section 51(1) of the PFM Act 2016 states, (1) Every person who collects, receives, or has a custody of any public money shall promptly deposit it into a bank account in such manner and within such period as prescribed by the Accountant-General, and a person who is not authorised by a head of a budgetary agency to do so may not collect, receive, or have a custody of, any public money.
There was evidence that the SLP had approached MoFED on the matter but the latter was yet to respond. Therefore, the SLP is said to be in breach of the above regulation for the past five years.
The audit recommended that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) should seek the approval of MoFED and other relevant authorities for the utilisation of these funds within 15 days upon receipt of the Audit Report otherwise the appropriate authorities would be advised to act accordingly.
In his official response, the IGP said that a verbal approval was granted by the then Minister in a meeting that was held between the SLP Management, Minister and the Commissioner General of the National Revenue Authority (NRA). In the meeting, according to the IGP, the Police were permitted to retain revenue collected from services provided by SLP armed guards.
The IGP said that they have also written two separate letters to the Chair of the Finance Committee and the Chair of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Parliament seeking approval to use the revenue collected. Currently, the matter is being looked into by both Committees and copies of the Police letters are available for inspection.
During the verification exercise, the auditors saw the letters from the IGP dated 28 April 2015, 9 October 2015 and 1 March 2017, which were sent to the Minister, Chair PAC and the Chair of the Finance Committee in Parliament.
The Auditor General noted that until a written approval is given by the Minister for the retention and utilisation of own source revenue collected by the SLP this issue remains unresolved.
The SLP asset register had not been updated as computer accessories and furniture worth Le207 million were purchased during 2016 but were not recorded in the fixed assets register.
The IGP stated that the Head of the Assets Management Unit had updated the fixed assets register with all assets purchased for the period under review and that evidence of such was available for audit verification.
However, in the Auditor’s comment, during the verification exercise, an updated fixed assets register was not submitted for audit review.
ZJ/19/6/18
By Zainab Iyamide Joaque
Wednesday June 20, 2018.
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