SAB records several violations harming public funds
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KUWAIT CITY, Nov 19: State Audit Bureau, after examining and reviewing the implementation of the budgets of the entities covered under its control and their final accounts for the 2019/2020 fiscal year, has recorded many administrative and financial violations, which harm the public funds, carried out by several government agencies, ministries and companies, as well as independent and affiliated bodies, reports Aljarida daily.
It affirmed that some of these authorities did not apply the provisions of the law and regulations concerning circulars that regulate government procurement, and the implications thereof relating to public money and its protection.
In its annual report, the bureau said these violations include the failure to activate the partnership law between the public and private sectors, by extending the contracts that have expired, and not putting them through the partnership authority.
It indicated that some parties, such as the Amiri Diwan, resorted to direct contracting to carry out works or supply and service cases that are not permissible for such a contract, in addition to the lack of coordination among these authorities regarding the unification of the purchasing authorities.
The bureau explained that there is a great variation in the prices of goods purchased from one source such as medicines and medical consumables contracted by the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Defense. This is in addition to the interference of bodies in other specialties, such as the Ministry of Defense’s contract to rent quarantine centers during the COVID-19 even though that is the prerogative of the Ministry of Finance.
The number of violations that were detected was 113, of which the share of government agencies was 60, companies 14, and affiliated bodies 19, while the independent ones had 20 violations.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruption of ministries, agencies, bodies and public institutions as a precautionary measure, it issued the first part of its report according to the constitutional date, to be followed by the rest of the parts to complete the various aspects of oversight that were carried out professionally, objectively and impartially.
The audits included 60 issues directly related to the state’s efforts in combating the repercussions of the pandemic, with a value of KD 86 million, indicating that those issues were presented to the prior control of “accountability” through the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Finance, and the Cabinet.
The percentage of subjects in government ministries and departments amounted to 78.4 percent of the total subjects, covering 89.2 percent of the total cost, which means that the value of government subjects increased in the 2019/2020 fiscal year by 24.2 percent compared to the previous one, due to amendments made to the previous contracts for military cases.
This is in addition to the high cost of the retirement insurance contract “Afia”, and with the Ministry of Public Works issuing change orders to improve the asphalt mixture to treat the flying gravel problem and deal with the rainy season.
The State Audit Bureau highlighted the weak performance of the bodies covered under its supervision, insisting that their violations caused damage to public money by about KD 8,579,047 on six aspects in the ministries and government departments, due to the delay of some authorities, and withdrawal of the less expensive bidder.
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