NCN didn’t bill PPP/C for millions owed for political ads, audit finds

The PPP/C has benefitted from over $55.2 million in advertising from the state-owned  broadcaster National Communications Network (NCN) that it was either not billed for or had not paid for up to May, 2015.

A forensic audit report of NCN, released yesterday on the Ministry of Finance website, revealed that in 2011, the then ruling PPP/C was not invoiced for $18.2 million in advertisements aired by NCN, while in 2015, the party was similarly not billed for $3.7 million in ads for a total of $21.9 million. Some $12.9 million of the sum for 2011 was recorded under the guise of being Public Service Announcements.

Further, the report revealed that at the end of May last year, the PPP/C owed $33.3 million to NCN for ads. Of this sum, $17.3 million was owed by Impressions, which represents campaign ads placed for the PPP/C for the 2011 Regional and General Elections, while the