It is understandable that matters do not go as efficiently as expected in an organisation undergoing restructuring or a merger but there is a limit to what ought to be regarded as acceptable. In the case of the VAT Department, now in the process of merging with Customs and the Inland Revenue Department, far too many weaknesses were flagged in a recent Auditor General’s report to excuse it on grounds of its present state of flux.

The National Audit Office listed no fewer than 10 shortcomings.

Abuse by VAT inspectors alone involved hundreds of hours of questionable vacation and sick leave. Their case is greatly ironic considering that, as inspectors, they are supposed to check abuse. In other words, those that did abuse were working diametrically against the ethics of their work.

The report shows the extent of maladministration: lack of verification of time records against vacation leave and sick leave documentation; vacation leave not supported by proper authorisation; sick leave not backed by medical certificates; lack of attendance records verification; temporary absence record sheets not prepared; overtime payments not properly authorised; paid overtime exceeding authorised hours; inaccurate overtime and allowance payments; employees’ personal files not properly kept and safeguarded against unauthorised access; and teleworking regulations not followed.

There were no fewer than 19 instances of VAT officials taking sick leave without submitting medical certificates.

Some 520 hours of authorised vacation leave had incomplete documentation. They did not even have the approval date. One officer failed to clock out on most days throughout the year and nine others also regularly failed to clock out at the end of the working day.

VAT inspectors carrying out work well away from the office can, perhaps, be excused for not returning to base to clock out. However, in this technological age surely some arrangement can be made for them to comply with basic office duty reporting requirements.

However, what is greatly galling is that such lack of control appears to be quite pervasive, indicating the need for much greater organisational arrangements across the public service.

With the provision of many public services online, one would have thought that this left the departments with greater human resources available to be able to work more efficiently. However, this does not appear to be the case and, to boot, the administration keeps loading the service with additional labour when the aim should be to make it leaner.

The list of shortcomings brought up in the Auditor General’s report is staggering. Even the Armed Forces of Malta come under the spotlight. For example, the report points to services, or items, procured directly from the open market without the necessary approvals and “bunkering services extended perpetually”.

Equally disturbing: expired contracts still in use; commitments to purchase from the open market made prior to the request and approval for direct orders from the Ministry of Finance; prior written approval from the respective permanent secretary to purchase by direct orders “not evidenced” or were obtained retrospectively; calls for quotations not published.

Hopefully, those responsible for the departments, or organisations falling under the responsibility of the administration, will follow, as they are indeed doing, the recommendations of the Auditor General so that the shortcomings are either completely eliminated forthwith or be reduced to the bare minimum.