Finance Ministry To Account For Le7.9 B Payroll Fraud

By Aruna Momoh Kargbo

The sum of NLe7,978,425.79 which is equivalent to Le7.9 billion remains unaccounted for by the Ministry of Finance after analysis and inspection of the payroll database was carried out by the protector of the Sierra Leone public purse, Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL).
This was captured by ASSL in their recent audit report noting that they (ASSL) identified unsupported amendments to the payroll in the form of additions, deletions and salary adjustments amounting to NLe14,973,801.56; NLe4,476,654.54 and NLe3,322,593.80 respectively.
The report maintained that the above amendments could have been made without the approval of the employing authority, thereby resulting in a breach of Regulations 111&112 of the PFMR, 2018.
The report stated that the Director of Recruitment and Selection at the HRMO should provide evidence in the form of appointment, retirement or resignation letters for all additions into, and deletions from the payroll.
That the Director of Payroll Administration at the HRMO and the Assistant Accountant-General, Payroll and Severance Benefits, should provide evidence of all adjustments made to personnel basic salaries in the payroll.
In their response, HRMO maintained that all amendments made to the payroll were approved by the Ministry of Finance, which is in line with the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 and the Public Financial Management Regulations (PFMR), 2018.
“A self-explanatory list was submitted to your team via email, which will provide a detailed explanation of all other allowances paid through the CSM payroll system,” HRMO stated.
“Documentary evidence in respect of additions of NLe11,041,859.44, deletions of NLe855,709.62 and salary adjustments of NLe2,897,055.05 representing 73.74%, 19.11% and 87.19% respectively, of the queried amounts was submitted and verified, leaving balances of NLe3,931,942.12, NLe3,620,944.92 and NLe425,538.75 respectively that were not supported,” the Audit maintained.
The report stated that the issue is partially resolved.