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The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the Sierra Leone Parliament is currently investigating the Ministry of Internal Affairs over missing funds amounting to over 400,000 US Dollars.
According to Parliamentary reporter, Melvin Tejan Mansaray, the fund which was supposed be royalty payments from passport manufacturer Netpage, is suspected to be pocketed by individuals in the leadership of the Internal Affairs Ministry.
“We (reporters) meant to understand the Ministry of Internal Affairs had a gentleman’s agreement with Netpage to pay royalties to the government but that that agreement is unbeknown to Parliament,” Mansaray said in a TV programme hosted on AYV.
He added that what that meant is that the said money is currently unaccounted for thereby resulting to a significant loss of revenue for the Sierra Leonean government.
Mansaray said that the PAC is currently looking out for an agreement in which the company could remit some of that money to the government but that there is no clear agreement on that.
He said that the government first mad e an amendment to the deal in 2013, 2014 and an addendum in the following year but that the agreement still has some issues with regards to remitting the funds into the consolidated fund.
About a couple of days ago, the PAC revealed that Netpage’s contract with the Ministry’s Immigration Department was illegal.
The PAC Chairman, and Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Honourable Ibrahim Tawa Conteh highlighted that this was revealed in the Auditor-General’s reported which brought to the fore discrepancies in the agreement between the company and the Immigration Department.
The report stated that government is entitled to 8 percent royalty from the contract but since the agreement, the company has failed to remit the said payment.
He emphasised the importance of companies to honour their agreements with government while calling on both the Immigration Department and Netpage to report to Parliament in about two weeks.
