The Ministry of Economy has refuted a Fiji Times article that was published on Thursday, claiming that $12.5 million was written‑off as a loss by the Ministry of Economy in 2015.
Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Economy Makereta Konrote says this is a gross overestimation and a complete misrepresentation of the Ministry’s accounts for that period.
She says in reality, $351,453.34 was written off from the Ministry of Economy’s accounts in 2015.
Konrote says the Fiji Times has incorrectly conflated a total of $12.1 million made in adjustments by the Ministry in 2015 with this sum to arrive at the misreported figure.
She says as part of a validation exercise in 2015, the Ministry of Economy made accounting adjustments within asset accounts to ensure that the true balances of each account were properly reflected in annual financial statements.
Konrote says as a result, numerous adjustments were made to better specify and more accurately portray accounting entries.
She says since this exercise, all accounting entries have been brought into order and can be validated against all external documentation.
Konrote says this exercise resulted in a total of $12.109 million worth of adjustments.
She says adjustments are merely corrections of book entries to better specify the use of funds and do not translate into a loss for Government or qualify as write‑offs.
Konrote says it would appear that the Fiji Times is either ignorant of this important distinction or has deliberately misreported on these figures.
She says in 2015, a total of $329,723.59 was written off due to a matter that is under active investigation by FICAC.
Konrote says as a result of investigations, a former staff member of the Strategic Planning Office has been successfully prosecuted and imprisoned, and investigations remain ongoing.
She says a total of $21,711.75 was written off after failure to recover funds that were loaned to two parliamentarians in 2000 and 2006 for the purchase of vehicles to visit constituents.
Konrote says after exhaustive efforts to recoup the loaned funds, the amount was written off due to the expiration of the statute of limitations to recover the funds.
She says the incorrect reporting by the Fiji Times on this matter represents a serious disservice to the public.
Konrote says a prominent retraction and apology should be issued immediately to clarify these errors.
Meanwhile, Fiji Times Editor Fred Wesley says the Office of Auditor General’s report for the year 2015 is now a public document and their report is based entirely on that.
Wesley says the newspaper has not deliberately misreported on this.
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