Finance Ministry stands to lose millions

  In the meantime, the Ministry of  Finance and the Public Service stands to lose millions of  dollars due to deficiencies in the management of  its scholarship and assistance programme.

     Among other things, the programme is being affected by a high delinquency rate.

     The Auditor-General has found that beneficiaries who failed to honour their bond agreement owe the Government millions of  dollars.

     Despite this, the Ministry was tardy in referring the cases to the Attorney-General's Department.

     The cases included persons who had forfeited their bond agreement between 2001 and 2006.

     In one case, the Ministry was unable to take action to recover funds from a delinquent beneficiary who received more than 900-thousand dollars in assistance as the loan and bonding agreement were not signed. In addition, the Ministry did not provide evidence that 23 beneficiaries of  awards totalling more than 900-thousand US dollars and another individual who received a tuition waiver of 18-thousand 500 US dollars were currently serving their bond obligations or had made repayments.

     The Auditor-General has advised the Finance Ministry to implement a proper system to adequately detect delinquent cases so that they can be dealt with promptly to reduce or prevent future loss to the government.