Corruption issues involving Elections Commission members surface again

Auditor General Niyaz Ibrahim said today that last year’s audit report on Elections Commission (EC) has revealed corruption issues involving members of Elections Commission.

Speaking on Elections Commission Audit Report for 2010 at the Financial Committee meeting, the Auditor General said that audits made in 2011 reveal that EC members travelled abroad on EC’s expenses and spent time with family members.

Also, iPads bought by EC against the advice of Auditor General have been used by family members of EC members, and phone allowances have been transferred to family members’ phones.

Niyaz said that EC members are aware that these are corrupt practices, details of which will be included in the Elections Commission Audit Report FY 2011.

Questioning the integrity of EC members, the Auditor General said that large sums of money had been wasted from EC’s budget for last year. He mentioned the purchase of a camera worth Rf 200,000, three coffee machines worth Rf 60,000, 16 TVs and 16 decoders as examples.

“EC is not a studio, to spent Rf 200,000 on a camera. This reveals that money was spent from the state budget without any consideration,” the Auditor General said.

In reply to questions posed by Financial Committee members on EC’s Audit Report for 2010, he said that EC set aside 250 laptops and purchased iPads for every EC member. He noted that this expense was not included in EC’s budget, and was against regulations.

The reason given by EC for the purchase of five iPads for its five members, was that they had to monitor online news and email.

The Auditor General also stated that the lack of details of how Rf 54m was spent by EC, which was noted in EC’s Audit Report for 2010, is not an act of corruption by EC.

According to Elections Commission Audit Report FY 2010, EC has details exist of how Rf 39m out of Rf 54m was spent during five elections which took place between 2007 and 2010; however details of how Rf 15m was spent are still missing.

Auditor General cited negligence in bookkeeping by EC as a reason for missing records of these expenditures.

EC had informed Financial Committee that details of how Rf 39m out of Rf 54m was spent do exist; however details of how Rf 15m was spent are still missing.