25 May 2007
Reuters
Singapore auditors find irregularities in ministries
Several high-profile Singapore government departments have
committed financial and accounting irregularities, a parliamentary
report said on Friday.
The report by the parliament's Public Accounts Committee
highlighted procurement irregularities, unfair payment practices
and circumvention of internal controls at key departments in the
Singapore government, which has repeatedly topped polls for being
one of the least corrupt regimes in the world.
The accounts committee said that the Economic Development Board
(EDB), the city-state's powerful economic agency, had shown lapses
in its governance structure, financial operations, procurement and
accounting systems.
"This was the first audit of the EDB undertaken by the
Auditor-General and the audit had given rise to a large number of
observations in which the board had not established proper internal
control procedures," the accounts committee said in the report
released on Friday.
A sum of S$105 million ($69 million) allocated in the EDB's 2005/06
budget was not submitted to the EDB's board for approval, and the
board had allowed staff to grant loans and to borrow without
reporting that to the board, the report said.
