Deported pharmacist snatches P500,000 as MoH bungles
Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Friday April 8, 2016 15:46
The Auditor General’s latest report, covering the 2015 financial year, shows that the expatriate was due to be paid P47,107.80 as a gratuity when her employment ended due to being declared a prohibited immigrant.
Instead, the ministry paid her the same amount, but in US dollars, in effect giving her P504,276 or P457,168.09 more than what was due to her.
“The former expatriate officer was employed on contract, but her services were terminated prematurely in November 2012 after she was declared a prohibited immigrant.
“After her dismissal, an initial attempt to pay her through a local commercial bank was not successful, as her account had already been closed.
“However a fresh effort to pay her in her country of origin of Kenya, in March 2014, had resulted in the same amount being erroneously denominated in foreign currency as $47,107.80, which translated to P504,276.29 in her favour,” the Auditor General found.
Ministry of Health officials only discovered the error 11 months later and when they attempted to recover the funds from their ex-employee, they hit a brick wall.
“When the ex-officer was made aware of the overpayment in February 2015 and a refund sought, she became defiant and blamed the overpayment on ministry officials.
“The ex-officer said that she is not the one who did the calculations and she did not have that kind of money.” The Auditor General said the blame for the blunder should be laid squarely on the ministry’s officers, as the loss to the public purse had been as a result of their lack of diligence.
“While it is clear that the ex-employee has unjustly benefited and should refund the money overpaid, I consider that ministry officials should also be held primarily accountable for this state of affairs.”
By the time of the Auditor General’s latest report, no progress had been made in recovering the overpayment.