Glaring Financial Loopholes Exposed Members of the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly have attributed the biting poverty in South Sudan to inadequate financial policies.02 November 2011 South Sudan Auditor General Stephen Wondu present the country’s first audited financial audit report before the SSLA. [© Gurtong]By Waakhe Simon Wudu
JUBA, 2 November 2011 [Gurtong] – The members spoke when the South Sudan Auditor General Stephen Wondu presented the country’s first audited financial audit report before the house. A member of the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) Scopas Taban expressed shock at the financial discrepancies in the report, saying the unaccounted for monies was a clear manifestation of ongoing corruption. The report reveals that millions of dollars were spent by the government in unclear circumstances while at the same time showing that huge sums of money have been also reported to have been deposited into some European countries, but not in the government’s account. Wondu who presented reports for 2005 and 2006 attributed the late presentation to lack of resources and technical personnel to facilitate the process. The Auditor General listed the audited institutions as the executive, legislature, judiciary, state governments, independent commissions, state’s institutions, local governments and corporations. “The reports were based on six items of government spending, including oil revenue, non-oil revenue, payroll, operation, capital expenditure and bank and cash balances. However, the Audit Commission was unable to audit all the government institutions due to a number of factors including inaccessibility of many institutions, lack of funds and skilled personnel”, said Wondu. The official admitted that the two reports do not represent the true financial positions owing to the inadequacies. “In my own opinion, the financial statements of the Government of South Sudan, GOSS for the year ended 31st December 2005, and the income and expenditure of the GOSS taken as a whole, do not present a true and fair financial position for the year”, he said. The report will be presented to the house for further scrutiny in a week’s time before the Assembly takes further measures on the report once deliberations are complete. This was the country’s first ever financial audit report to the national assembly since the establishment of the government in 2005. Posted in: Home, Business, Governance -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
