Auditor General confirms sighting Cabinet Ministers’ salaries for 2013

The Auditor General Tevita Bolanavanua has confirmed that his office has sighted the details of the cabinet ministers’ salaries in 2013, however, they could not sight the contract details of the ministers.

It is revealed in the 2013 Auditor General’s Report that the contract documents detailing the terms and conditions for the salaries of cabinet ministers were not made available for audit.

The report said that the Chief Accountant Treasury is responsible for the safekeeping and proper maintenance of all accounting records or documents.

The Auditor General said that from their review, it has been revealed that the Ministry of Finance paid a total of $1.86 million as cabinet ministers’ salaries in 2013.

The audit stated that discussions revealed that the salaries are processed based on the amounts provided by Alizpacific Chartered Accountants and Business Advisors.

The payment details of the ministers starts with the Prime Minister getting $278,750 in 2013 while other ministers getting between $130,000 to $185,000.

The audit said in addition, on the 20th of February this year, the Prime Minister received a gratuity payment of $57,500 for the year ended 2013.

The audit was verbally advised that the contract documents are with the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Auditor General said that they made a formal request on the 14th of January 2014 to the Office of the Prime Minister for the verification of the contract documents, however, they were not furnished with the contracts.

It said the Ministry of Finance also made the request with the Office of the Prime Minister but was not provided with the documents.

The viewing of the documents is to confirm that the correct payment of salaries was made to the ministers based on their terms and conditions stated in their contracts.

The management of the Finance Ministry said in the 2013 audit that similar to the Office of the Auditor General, they have also requested for this information from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Finance Ministry management said they have also suggested to the PM’s Office to allow the auditors to view these documents.