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Fiji’s latest Public Accounts Committee report says large sums of money received as elections deposits and deposits for tenders were still sitting with the Department of Provincial Development in 2007.
In its report on the Auditor General’s report of 2007, the committee said the department received a sum of $14, 265 as elections deposits from candidates for various elections.
These deposits “had yet to be transferred to the Elections Office”.
Another sum of $167,675 in tender deposits “which should have been reimbursed to unsuccessful bidders of tenders but had been kept and allowed to accumulate because of the difficulty of locating companies which had tendered”.
The report also pointed out that it was wrong for the department to request for write-off or to transfer the monies to a consolidated fund “as the money did not belong to government”.
Major capital works issues under the department’s jurisdiction were also identified.
These included a delay in the road works outsourced to the Divisional Engineer Roads, building materials being purchased and not delivered and building materials being delivered to the wrong recipient.
By Richard Naidu
