Marshall Islands Auditor General Junior Patrick and Secretary of Finance Alfred Alfred Jr. confirmed that a detailed re-audit of the government’s general fund account spending is underway for the years 2007 through 2011 to find out if additional fraud — beyond what has already resulted in criminal prosecutions in the High Court — has gone undetected. The general fund contains locally generated tax and other revenue.
Fraud investigations by the Attorney General’s Office and national police investigators that have led to criminal charges against more than 10 people for theft of more than $500,000 in U.S. grant funding to the Ministry of Health. The investigation that led to these charges focused only on certain government transactions involving specific companies, Patrick indicated.
The re-audit has cast its net wider, looking at non-payroll spending over the past five years in an effort to detect fraud against the government.
“The auditor general is taking the lead and we’re supplying all the data and staff to help,” said Alfred earlier this month. “The idea is to look at all 2007-2011 financial data. We are leaving no stones unturned.”
Patrick said that he is devoting five of his staff to the re-audit, which is a majority of the staff auditors in the auditor general’s office.
“We are looking at every single transaction,” Alfred said.
“After the re-audit is completed, we will have an idea of where the high-risk areas are,” said Alfred, who took over at Finance in January. “Then the Ministry of Finance can put more emphasis on these areas through internal controls.”
If the audit shows a need to beef up financial management at government “component units,” the government will take necessary action, he said.
Alfred said his long-term goal is to eliminate audit “findings” (problems) and improve internal controls at the Ministry to prevent fraud and abuse of government money.
