Representatives from the Region Three Regional Democratic Council (RDC) yesterday faced questions about overpayments in excess of $6 million in salaries and contributions paid out to officers at various agencies from 2005 to 2010 and its success in recovering them.
During yesterday’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting, members convened to continue scrutinising the 2010 and 2011 Auditor General’s reports on the region’s finances.
According to the Auditor General’s 2010 report, overpayments totaling $4.685 million were made to officers during the years 2005 to 2010, while the related deductions totalling $1.643 million paid over to various agencies were also not recovered.
The report did note that the region was successful in recouping $1.114 million at the time of the audit, bringing the outstanding salaries amount to $3.571 million.
The Regional Executive Officer (REO) and leader of the panel representing Region Three Donald Gajraj explained that the payments were made to the officers, even though they were no longer employees of the region, because the news of their resignations was not noted early enough.
The REO revealed, however, as was mentioned in the region’s written response to the Auditor General, that in addition to amounts reported by the Auditor General’s report, further amounts had since been recouped both from the banks as well as the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The region reported that $72,207 was received for the year 2008 from the GRA, while the sums of $96,527 and $114,278 in salaries were recovered for the years 2009 and 2010, respectively.
The recovery of overpaid salaries to banks has been a longstanding issue among regional councils and as a result PPP/C MP Gail Teixeira inquired about how Region Three was so successful in its recovery campaign.
Since Gajraj was not the REO during the period in question, former Region Three REO Paul Ramrattan explained that a written request was made to the bank, which subsequently refunded the amounts. This information surprised the PAC’s acting Chairperson Volda Lawrence, who expressed concern about the bank, or any bank for that matter, going into the accounts of persons who were no longer employed by the region to recoup money. Furthermore, considering the matter was as much as five years old, Lawrence said, the news was somewhat disturbing.
Teixeira, reinforcing Lawrence’s position, stated that she did not think it right that any money should be taken out of anyone’s account.
She suggested instead, that stop orders should have been employed, since the region would be able to stop the payments before they are even made.
However, the former REO explained that the recovery was possible because the funds were never paid into the former employees’ accounts. He said the amounts remained in the bank system but were not placed in any individual bank accounts and could, as such, be recouped.
Several members of the committee continued to voice their displeasure as well as curiosity with the method in which the monies were recouped.
Gajraj was pressed to explain what arrangement the region had with the bank that could have allowed for the transaction in question.
When asked for clarification, the Accountant General said he was unaware of what actually transpired, but said he assumed the transaction could have been carried out if the region had put a stop on the payments, before writing the bank to request the repayments.
When asked if this was the case, the REO could not verify and seemed not quite sure as to what exactly had transpired. He was advised to return to the region to ascertain what had transpired, and to make a report to the PAC on his findings.
As it relates to the prevention of future occurrences, the region stated that it now continues to monitor payroll accuracy with timelier verification and preparation of salaries so as to reduce overpayment.
Also, in relation to ongoing efforts to recoup contributions from GRA and the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), the region reported that “letters have been sent to the staffs and respective agencies to recover all overpayments.”
Thus far, for 2011, a total of $106,348 has been recovered and “the region continues in its efforts to recover all over payments,” the report said.
