Ghost on the Payroll

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services paid nearly $12,000 in un­authorised salary to a non-existent employee, exposing serious weaknesses in its payroll system.

The Auditor-General's 2023 Social Ser­vices Sector report, tabled in Parliament this month, revealed that an officer with EDP number 93715, who did not exist in the ministry's Human Resource records, received salary payments for 14 fortnights between October 2022 and May 2023. 

Auditor-General Finau Nagera explained that there was no employment history for this officer in the payroll system from April 2015 to October 2022. 

The ministry submitted a renewal form for EDP 93718, but both EDP 93715 and 93718 were mistakenly activated in the payroll system, leading to the unauthorised payments. 

Payments stopped in May 2023 once the error was discovered. The officer responsible has agreed to repay the $9578 net overpayment, having paid $3178 in April 2024, with the balance to be cleared through monthly instalments of $500. 

Public Service Commission chairman Luke Rokovada described the incident as “unacceptable” and highlighted systemic failures in internal auditing. 

He warned that some officers might be aware of such errors but allow them to continue, possibly benefiting from them. 

The Auditor-General’s report also noted other concerns, including $1.2 million worth of biochemistry equipment that remained unused for a year due to lack of supplies, delayed operation of testing analysers, unreconciled Value Added Tax accounts, and outstanding overpayments exceeding $744,000. 

The report recommended that the ministry strengthen its supervisory checks of payroll processing to prevent future errors.