Arrears of government revenue totalled over Lm482.1 million on December 31, 2004, of which some Lm93.4 million could be collected, the Auditor-General says in his report on the public accounts for 2004.

"This is an area where significant improvements can be registered by introducing efficient procedures for both the enforcement of the collection of debt and settlement of fines and correct documentation" , Auditor-General J.G. Galea said.

The report says that Lm2.8 million reported as arrears of revenue arising from overpayments of social benefits were doubtful of repayment.

"Insufficient (repayment) instalments are being requested from beneficiaries and no adequate enforcement action is being taken by the department to recover these over-payments".

The audit report says that the Ministry of Competitiveness and Communications lacked control over the refund of call charges. Clear regulations regarding purchases of mobile phones and a policy for lost mobile phones were lacking.

Audit of salaries carried out at St Luke's Hospital and the Department for the Elderly and Community Services revealed lack of general controls in the recording and payment of salaries mainly due to the manual calculation of various types of allowances.

Irregularities were noted in overtime allowance payments issued by the Ministry for Urban Development and Roads in respect of Private Secretariat staff. Such officers are entitled to overtime when they work in excess of 47 hours in a period of four weeks. During 2004 they were paid Lm775 for overtime not exceeding the stipulated threshold of 47 hours. These officers did not have enough overtime hours carried forward from previous months to be entitled to the additional allowance.

The auditor found that lack of communication between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Social Security had allowed Malta-based officers to be paid children's allowance both by the ministry and the department.