An audit at the Malta Council for Science and Technology revealed instances where payments to employees were either unauthorised, not properly supported by evidence or inaccurate, the National Audit office said today.
Other shortcomings, particularly to inventory management, were also noted.
Concerns with respect to the filing of documents led this Office to question the completeness of information made available during the audit.
The Office said that on 3 June 2013, the then Permanent Secretary, Ministry for Education and Employment, approved the renewal of the contract of the
Financial Controller until he reached retirement age in January 2014, following which, a new call was to be issued.
However, on 24 December 2013, Ministerial approval was obtained to appoint the Officer on a position of trust upon his retirement. This was decided on the basis that he was instrumental in the setting up of the Council’s financial system, and constantly maintained the system to the highest level of quality possible.
Nevertheless, the Officer terminated his employment on 12 December 2014, even though the employment contract was due to expire in January 2017.
Remuneration awarded exceeded ministerial approval
The remuneration package awarded in the contract of employment of the
Financial Controller engaged on the basis of trust, endorsed on 14 January 2014, was equivalent to the Ministerial approval obtained from both the Ministry for Education and Employment and also the Ministry for Finance. This was tied to
salary scale 6, starting at €24,057 per annum.
However, within two weeks, the financial package was revised upwards, resulting in an unauthorised increase of €6,709 for the year under review.
No further approvals were made available, but Management claimed that the salary of the Financial Controller was brought in line with that of the other directors.
Further testing also revealed that the Officer’s mobile phone bills for 2014 were borne by MCST. Authority for such payment was not provided for audit purposes.
Absence of attendance records and payroll concerns
The Office said the MCST was not keeping any attendance records of its employees.
Payroll testing of the 10 officers sampled revealed various mistakes. Other
concerns, such as lack of supporting evidence to substantiate decisions affecting salary payments and divergence from approvals, were also noted.
The Audit Office said that although the contract of a high ranking officer specified an entitlement of free fuel up to 150 litres per month, this was being paid as a monthly constant cash allowance instead, amounting in total to €2,484 annually.
Besides this fuel entitlement, the financial package also included an annual car allowance of €4,193. "This was an anomaly considering the fact that, in line
with general Government practices, the award of a car allowance is a comprehensive compensation for waiving the entitlement of a fully expensed car, which also comprises the consumption of fuel, and thus any further related allowance is precluded as it is considered as constituting a double payment of the same benefit," the office said.
It said it had noted shortcomings with respect to overtime, adding that total compensation for overtime worked during 2014 amounted to €20,157, the majority of which, totalling €16,084, was paid to five officials.