Audit Bureau uncovers 3,531 violations in 2018, prompting gov't action

AMMAN — Prime Minister Omar Razzaz on Sunday received a copy of the 2018 Audit Bureau report, which recorded a total of 3,531 violations, stressing that the government will deal with the violations in the report in a "firm manner".

Of the total, 366 violations were related to executive regulation of financial affairs, comprising 10.4 per cent of the total, and 313 violations were made in relation to the supplies by-law, accounting for 8.8 per cent, according to the report, which was shared with The Jordan Times on Sunday.

 A total of 229 violations were recorded for misusing government vehicles, comprising 6.5 per cent.

The report also highlighted key financial and legislative violations, noting that total customs exemptions in 2018 amounted to JD1,098,560,680, which “requires reconsidering relevant laws”. 

As for tax and customs evasions and customs violations, the report said that the value of tax and customs evasions in 2018 stood at JD23,620,470.

Of the total, JD19,135,860 was registered for 17 violations in the income tax, JD3,399,228 for 23 violations in the sales tax and JD1,085,382 on customs fees, the report explained.

The total of tax and customs evasions stood at JD411,832,942, including JD175,361,259 from evasion of income and sales tax and JD236,471,683 from evasion of customs fees. 

As for violations related to preparing and implementing the budgets of government departments and independent units, the report showed that the budgets included projects that were supposed to be implemented in previous years, and that money was allocated to implement 12 schemes over three years.

The allocated money for these schemes, which were not implemented, stood at JD23.9 million for 2016, JD17.7 million for 2017 and JD14.8 million for 2018.

The report also said that money was allocated in the form of loans and funding by the Treasury in 2018 for 81 ventures at a total of JD37.9 million. However, the allocated money was not spent on any of the schemes. 

Razzaz voiced the government's “full support” to the Audit Bureau to enable it to implement its duties in a transparent, objective manner that protects public money, addresses misuse and contributes to curbing all forms of financial and administrative corruption, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Bureau President Assem Haddad said that the institution monitors all violations by departments that are subject to the monitoring of the bureau and directly contacts them to rectify their violations, adding that only unresolved violations are included in the report.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Prime Ministry Affairs Sami Daoud, head of the team tasked with following up on violations mentioned in the report, said that the team has reviewed all violations made in 2018 so as to rectify them before issuing the 2018 report.

Daoud said that since January, the team has dealt with 1,105 violations documented by the bureau, 490 of which have been rectified and 616 others pending rectification, Petra added. 

The minister said that the team, after referring to the prime minister, submitted 37 violations to the Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission for graft suspicions to proceed with legal action, and 47 violations to the judiciary for legal infringements and suspected embezzlement.  

He added that decisions have been made concerning 71 violations to retrieve pubic money that was spent unduly or without a legal basis, noting that these amounts were either disbursed to citizens or contractors, given to the first beneficiary twice or have been proven to include embezzlement or counterfeits of official documents.

As for the money that can be retrieved from all these violations, Daoud estimated the total sum at JD110 million.