Budget of Foreign Ministry used for the benefit of certain groups

Audit Report of Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 2010 has revealed that several expenditures of the Ministry were made illegally and for the benefit of certain groups of people.

Several such cases were noted in the report.

For instance, MVR235,001 was spent on the Minister’s phone bills, which conflicts with the budget passed by the Parliament as allowance for the Minister’s phone bills.

The Ministry had carried out internship programs at the Foreign Ministry and at Missions abroad. Several of these interns were relatives of senior officials of the Ministry, and they had remained in employment after the duration of the internship.

The report reveals that MVR88.5 million was spent on Missions abroad; however no details or records were kept of these expenditures.

Employee attendance was not monitored; thus it is not known whether the MVR7.3 million spent as salaries was for the days the employees were present at work.

Also, MVR140,617 was spent as salaries in addition to the amount assigned for it, of which MVR80,503 has not been repaid to the Ministry.

Several Missions abroad had more than one account to which the Ministry transferred money. Some of these were dollar accounts while others were local currency accounts of those countries. This meant that several extra costs were incurred by the Ministry for money transfer transactions.

It was noted that salaries were often transferred to these accounts as well, resulting in increased costs.

Also, permission of the Ministry of Finance was not obtained prior to opening these accounts and transferring money to them.

The Auditor General also noted the issues of the sale of a car used at the Embassy in China, and the purchase of a vehicle with money given as aid by the Chinese government.

Salaries and allowances were being paid to employees in Missions abroad in violation of the Civil Service Act.

For instance, several employees had spent more money than allowed as accommodation allowance. Also, they had purchased furniture and other items for which the Ministry’s budget should not be used.

Domestic helpers were hired for Ambassadors - something for which the state budget should not be used.

Employees of Missions abroad used the state budget to purchase items such as mobile phones.

Also, the money assigned to be spent on education of children of these employees, was spent against the rules. No records were kept of these expenditures.

Two employees of the Mission in Malaysia were given more than MVR11,000 to travel to Maldives, even though they had been excused from doing so.

In addition, no policies were observed in providing medical insurance for employees of Missions abroad.

Several employees were hired unlawfully to Missions abroad.

For instance, no announcement was made before a Senior Advisor was employed for two years at the UN Mission on 30 August 2010. He was paid a monthly salary of MVR34,335 from September 2010 onwards, and a salary of MVR56,622 for the remaining period.

He resigned on 20 July 2011, but worked as the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran during the six-month notice period.

While MVR830,000 was paid as salaries and allowances for this employee, there was no record or information of any work done by him at the UN Mission. The employee is former Foreign Minister Dr Ahmed Shaheed.

The report also noted that inventories were not kept for Foreign Ministry and foreign Embassies; there were discrepancies between the Ministry’s Financial Statements and Finance Ministry’s ledger; and employees of Missions abroad used the government budget to pay for private parties and functions.