THE defence ministry failed to prove that they indeed spent N$138 million to buy aircraft parts in 2017, the latest report by the auditor general found.
Finance minister Calle Schlettwein tabled the defence ministry's 2017 audit report in parliament on Tuesday.
He also tabled the education ministry's audit report, which shows that the government paid N$1,4 million to officials whose contracts had been terminated.
The defence ministry's audit said its permanent secretary, Peter Hafeni Vilho, reported that the ministry paid N$198 million for maintenance parts of military aircraft in 2017.
"However, the audit could only verify a total amount of N$60 million from the expenditure vouchers presented for audit purposes. This has resulted into an unexplained difference of N$138 million," the report approved by auditor general Junias Kandjeke stated.
The auditors said the permanent secretary should provide evidence to prove how the N$138 million was spent.
The report did not provide details such as the description of the aircraft spare parts, and which country they were bought from.
The defence ministry has a history of buying military equipment through questionable, secretive companies.
The Namibian reported two years ago about how banking authorities in the United States forced the Namibian government to recall N$156 million it had transferred to Chinese state-owned arms dealer Poly Technologies.
At the time, two senior government officials confirmed the US involvement to The Namibian, stating that US officials had informed Namibian authorities that the transaction appeared "suspicious".
Poly Technologies, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Poly Group Corporation, which is headquartered in Beijing, was slapped with US sanctions in 2013 for allegedly selling banned weapons to states classified as hostile by the international community.
The auditor general's report also found that the defence ministry spent around N$400 million in unauthorised spending (money paid for purposes other than it was allocated for in the national budget).
"It is recommended that the accounting officer should put measures in place to avoid over-spending, and ensure that planned activities are implemented within the approved budget," the report said.
The ministry also failed to reveal the donation of vehicles it received from the German armed forces technical advisory group worth N$1,7 million, the audit found.
"However, these vehicles were not disclosed as donated items. Besides, there was no treasury approval provided for audit purposes," the auditors said, warning the military to follow the law by getting permission from the finance ministry before receiving donations and grants, whether money or property.
The defence ministry said the exclusion of the vehicles was an error from the director of logistics in the ministry.
The defence ministry also explained how they failed to spend N$163 million for projects which were planned for 2017.
The under-expenditure includes the national army (N$99 million), training (N$38 million), the navy (N$35 million), guard battalion (N$29 million) and the air force (N$20 million).
The ministry claims that the money was not spent because of things such as delays in recruitment, and the budget reduction made by the finance ministry in that financial year.
The 2017 auditor general's report furthermore exposed recklessness in the education ministry.
"During the audit at the //Karas regional education directorate, it was found that salaries of certain staff members were not stopped on time upon termination of their service," the report said.
Kandjeke's audit report said auditors found that there were instructions to terminate the contracts, but the finance department in the ministry failed to stop the payment of N$1,4 million to officials who were not working at that directorate.
It's not clear how many people benefited from this alleged error, or for how long this was done.
The troubles don't end there.
"The audit found that staff members [at the //Karas regional education directorate] went on maternity leave, and received their full salaries as well as payments from the Social Security Commission, and no deductions were effected to recover the wrongly paid salaries," the report said.
The auditors said the education ministry's permanent secretary Sanet Steenkamp should ensure that "these payments are recovered from the staff members".
"In the future, the accounting officer should also ensure that salaries are suspended during the maternity leave should the staff members not take vacation leave," the report said.
- shinovene@namibian.com.na
