By: Binta Jaiteh
The National Audit Office (NAO) has said that the former chief medical director of the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH), Dr. Ammar Al Jafari, has diverted hospital funds, totalling D648,000, for personal use.
The EFSTH Management appeared before the Finance and Public Accounts Committee (FPAC) of the National Assembly to respond to the queries raised be the National Audit Office, regarding their final management letter covering the period 1st January 2021 to 30th April 2024.
The auditors said their review of the payment vouchers and the bank statements of both the hospital and the CMD revealed that the former chief medical director approved the payment of additional allowance to himself of which there were no approval from the Board of Directors. Auditors reported that Dr. Jafar claimed to have been using the money to pay rent.
“In addition, the CMD has also used resources of the hospital to fund his expenses, including his travel on vacation,” auditors further reported, describing the use of EFSTH’s financial resources by the ex-CMD for rent payment without the board’s approval as a misappropriation of the hospital’s resources.
The auditors recommended to the board to immediately take administrative action against all the staff involved in the process for the immediate recovery of these funds from the former CMD.
In response, the management promised to recover the money from the CMD and to take
Administrative action on the staff.
Meanwhile, NAO disclosed that there was non-compliance with tax legislation. “Review of the payroll shows an amount of D10,749,698.94 was deducted as income tax, which was not paid to the National Revenue Authority as required by the Income and Value Added Tax Act 2012,” NAO further disclosed.
“Failure to pay income tax is a violation of the Income Tax Value Added Tax Act 2012, and
this could lead to an increase in penalty charges and possibly litigation. We recommend that the board ensure management engages GRA on a possible payment plan agreement immediately and start paying this liability, as well as the monthly income taxes deducted from staff, and provide the audit team with the evidence of such,” NAO stated.
The Management of EFSTH told the House committee that engagement has started as a team of senior members had met the Commissioner General in July 2024 to discuss these arrears and the way-forward.
The Co-chairperson of FPAC, Alagie Mbowe, urged the Management to present all the evidence of payments made by it as queried by the auditors.
