ACC defends N$90 000 unauthorised expenditure

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has defended the unauthorised expenditure of N$90 000, which the commission says was within its allocated operational budget.

The auditor general’s report for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 highlighted that the ACC had exceeded its expenditure without proper authorisation, particularly in subdivisions 025 and 041, designated for general maintenance and international membership fees and subscriptions.

ACC executive director Tylvas Shilongo clarified that the expenditure was covered by savings from other operational subdivisions, with approval from the treasury before implementation.

However, discrepancies between the General Ledger (GL) and the ACC Fund Distribution Certificate (FDC) led to the auditor general’s findings.

“The operational expenditure of the ACC was within the allocated operational budget. The accounting officer requested the treasury to authorise virement from other operational subdivisions where ACC had savings.

“Such virements were approved by the treasury before any payments were implemented. Therefore, only after such virement authorisation requests to treasury had been approved and money reflected on the ACC FDC, did the commission make such payments,” he said.

“It appears that the finance ministry seemed to not have made the necessary changes on the GL (Standard Subdivisions) to reflect the approved virement.

“This caused a mismatch/discrepancy between the figures on the GL (Standard Subdivisions) and the FDC that the ACC relied on when the payments were made.”

“The failure by the finance ministry to timely effect the necessary changes on the GL, and the auditor general’s reliance on that GL showing insufficient funds led to the auditor general’s findings that the commission exceeded its operational subdivisions with an unauthorised amount of N$89 957, which is not the case.

“The problem of a mismatch between GL and FDC appears not unique to ACC Vote 30, but a general problem that the finance ministry should resolve in the future. The commission subscribes to its values of integrity, accountability, transparency, fairness and impartiality and operates within its budget ceilings,” he said.

The Namibian recently reported that auditor general Junias Kandjeke’s report revealed the ACC’s unauthorised expenditure of N$89 957, a decision which was criticised by analysts and politicians.

“Although treasury authorisation was obtained to utilise certain expected savings for the defrayal of expenditure through virements during the year, two operational subdivisions were exceeded with an amount of N$89 957, which is unauthorised in terms of the State Finance Act,” the report notes.