The Auditor General’s Office (AGO) has stated the Judicial Service Commission (JSC)’s expenditure during 2020 was in accordance with the state’s financial regulations. The AGO made the statement in its audit report for JSC, which was signed by Auditor General Hussain Niyazi.
The AGO has published its audit report on JSC’s 2020 expenditure as well as the expenditure of the Parliament of the Maldives in 2020 and the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM) in 2021. In the audit report, the AGO stated JSC had used its funds in accordance with the budget approved by the Parliament and the established rules and regulations.
Furthermore, AGO noted that an employee of HRCM in 2013 received a scholarship opportunity for a master's level course abroad but returned to the Maldives after failing to complete the course. The AGO stated the employee had also failed to reimburse HRCM for the expenses as stipulated in the agreement. The commission denied the employee’s request to waive the owed amount, which is USD26,000, but had failed to recover the amount in accordance with the regulations.
AGO also highlighted numerous issues in its audit report for the Parliament’s expenditure in 2020. AGO stated the Secretariat of the Parliament had failed to formulate and maintain a registry for its assets and failed to prepare a Bill of Quantity (BOQ) after hiring a contractor to complete renovations on the building worth USD641,000. It also highlighted the contractor was not chosen through a competitive bidding process and the cost of the project had exceeded the usual cost, adding that the retention funds were paid six months earlier than the set 12 months.
Additionally, the AGO stated the Secretariat of the Parliament had recorded some capital expenses on its recurrent budget, which led to the state’s financial record system not accounting for USD19,000 of assets at the Parliament. Therefore, AGO advised the Secretariat of the Parliament to follow the established rules and regulations when maintaining its records.