Auditor-General could not verify $90 COVID payments

The Auditor-General could not confirm whether Fiji’s first COVID-19 cash payment of $90, made to 118,000 applicants in May 2021, reached only one member of each household as required.

This is according to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts’ Review Report on the Compliance Audit Report, which was tabled in Parliament this month.

The report said the Ministry of Finance did not provide datasets or documentation to verify compliance with the household restriction.

“The Auditor-General was unable to determine whether the requirement of restricting assistance to one household member was met,” the report stated.

The audit also found that no documented risk assessment was carried out for the $226.1 million Cash Assistance Programme, despite the Ministry having standard operating procedures in place.

Key personnel managing the programme did not submit written conflict of interest declarations, while reviews and approvals of staff tasks were not formally documented, the report found.

Verification of applicants relied partly on information from the Ministry of Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation. However, auditors said “outdated/manual data” at the Ministry reduced the accuracy of eligibility checks.

The Committee recommended that the Ministry of Finance document all future risk assessments and require written conflict of interest declarations from staff managing relief programmes.

It also recommended stronger verification methods when third-party data is incomplete or outdated.

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