Shortcomings were already in hand

Most of the administrative shortcomings highlighted in the National Audit Office report were already taken in hand before the audit took place. But notwithstanding that the auditors were informed about this, they were still reported upon as if nothing had been done about them, John Gatt, permanent secretary in the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, said last night.

One example was the action taken to deduct excess salaries paid to an officer working on a reduced timetable. Other shortcomings mentioned in the report were all instantly tackled, replied to and rectified where necessary by this ministry as recommended by the same NAO. This was acknowledged by the Auditor General when stating that "the management had accepted and adopted most of its recommendations", Mr Gatt said in his reaction to the NAO's report.

However, he added, the NAO ignored evidence provided by the ministry on matters where the Auditor's interpretation was wrong, such as that regarding the claim of excessive mobile phone expense, the on-call allowance, and the full use of an official car and the qualification allowance enjoyed by an employee in the minister's secretariat.

All these were explained to the Auditor in terms of standing procedures, which explanations were ignored by the NAO. Also the auditors failed to acknowledge the fact that an officer, who was on vacation leave, was paid overtime when he was called in urgently to perform overtime duties after normal working hours, when others were not available.

Mr Gatt said the ministry even went further than that and adopted stricter policies and safeguards to ensure that any sustainable issues highlighted by the auditors will not recur. However, the ministry also feels that the NAO should have taken into account comments by the office of the permanent secretary prior to its report's publication, since most of the findings were cleared.

"While this Ministry acknowledges the methodology adopted by the NAO in carrying out sample audit checks, one cannot but state that the then Ministry for Investment, Industry and Information Technology, now the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, strives to ensure good governance, accountability and transparency when implementing government legislation, policies and directives," Mr Gatt said.