Public Security Ministry seeks help of AG Chambers

– as millions in overpayments to staffers uncovered

Over at the Public Security Ministry, a situation has arisen wherein some staff members have been overpaid by millions, prompting the Ministry to seek help from the Attorney General to recover the money.
This is according to the Auditor General’s (AG) 2017 report, which was recently made public. According to the AG, ten public servants were overpaid in that fiscal year by $1.3 million.
While some of the money was subsequently recovered, some $1.1 million is still outstanding. Monies were also outstanding from the previous year. According to the report, overpayments totalling $2.5 million were made.
Some of the money has also been recovered, leaving approximately $1.5 million in limbo. All may not be lost, however, as the Ministry revealed that they have sought the help of the Attorney General Chambers.
But why did the overpayments occur in the first place? According to the AG report,

a pay change mix-up with the Central Accounting Unit at the Ministry is responsible for the overpayments.
In their recommendations, the AG urged the Ministry to continue in its efforts to recover the money. In addition, the office recommended that the interface with the Central Accounting Unit be enhanced to prevent recurrences.
Overpayments of salaries to staff are not isolated incidents. Nor are they limited to Ministries. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries were overpaid to staff of the Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) Administration, and this was flagged by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) earlier this year.
The meeting had revealed that since the Auditor General cited the issue in his 2016 report, not much has changed. In the Auditor General’s 2016 report, overpayment of salaries was flagged as a prior year issue that was partially implemented.
In the Auditor General’s 2015 report, it was recorded that “Fourteen and seventeen employees were overpaid net salaries for the years 2012 and 2014, respectively, with the related deductions also being overpaid to the various agencies.
Although the regional administration made some progress with recovery of these overpayments, this situation recurred in 2015 with nine employees being overpaid. However, to date, there has been no progress with the recovery of the deductions paid over to the various agencies.”
It was also reported that “Unpaid net salaries totalling $9.838 million were refunded to the Consolidated Fund for the years 2012 to 2014. However, the related deductions totalling $2.075 million paid to various agencies were still not recovered.
Similarly, for 2015, amounts totalling $1.471 million were refunded to the Consolidated Fund as unpaid salaries for thirty-six” employees, and the related deductions of $308,946 paid to the various agencies were also not recovered.”