The 2017 audit report of the Parliament of the Maldives has revealed the legitimacy of over USD 10 million declared under the parliament’s assets is unverified due to failure in maintaining accounts of property and assets.
The report, which was signed by the Auditor General, revealed the Parliament Secretariat had been maintaining accounts of its assets and property in manually written books prior to 2017. The report revealed the Parliament Secretariat was instructed to form a new registry with all property and assets of the parliament by the end of 2017. However, the report noted the new registry was not formed in accordance to the Public Finance Regulations.
The audit report stated the legitimacy of over USD 10 million is unverified because of failure to maintain accounts. The report added there is also no verification that all state property registered under the Parliament Secretariat is present in the exact amounts specified under asset declaration. The Auditor General’s Office has instructed the Parliament Secretariat to revise the registry in accordance to the Public Finance Regulations and to share the revised registry with the Ministry of Finance.
Apart from the issues identified in maintaining accounts of property, no other issues were identified in the audit report.