MVR 186m unpaid for education loans; no recovery efforts
The money accepted has not been posted to the public accounting system.
By
Aishath Fareeha Abdulla
MVR 186.47 million worth of outstanding repayments of government loans for higher education exist and enough is not being done to recover the amount, according to an audit report prepared by the audit office.
The Auditor General's Office, in its 2021 audit report of the higher education ministry, said that out of the total funds received for various loan schemes issued by the Ministry, the amount of unpaid dues as of 2021 stood at MVR 186.47 million.
The audit report says the ministry is not doing enough to recover the amount. It also said that the financial statement shared with the audit office did not verify the authenticity of the amount mentioned as refundable amount.
Here are some of the key points highlighted in the audit report:
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1-
While the Finance Act says that public money should be kept in public accounts, students do not deposit their refunds for various loan schemes issued by the ministry into public bank accounts; the money has been kept in other commercial accounts
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The Ministry of Higher Education did not maintain the information of students who needed to deposit money in the National Student Loan Scheme, which is being maintained by the government for free first degree; as a result, how much money was to be released to each student and how much money was released under the programme
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After purchasing materials for courses offered by polytechnics, they were not put into stocks under the Finance Act
The value of the ministry's fixed assets cannot be ascertained as a register of fixed assets has not been prepared and maintained as mandated by the Finance Act
In its report, the audit office said that the process of recovering dues from loans given to students under various schemes for higher education by 2021 has not been carried out as mandated in the Finance Rules. It was also pointed out that a repayment schedule was given to the borrowers to recover the money from them, but they were not trying to recover it accordingly.
The report also pointed out that while the Finance Act states that all public funds should be kept in public bank accounts, five accounts opened in banks in the name of higher education ministry to manage various loan schemes contained MVR 44 million.
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While loans through four of these accounts have been stopped, MVR 33 million in these accounts has not been deposited in public bank accounts
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The money accepted for these accounts has not been posted to the public accounting system
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Earlier audit reports for 2018, 2019 and 2020 had recommended improvements, but they have not been corrected
Although an account opened with the Bank of Ceylon has stopped disbursing loan funds, the audit report has pointed out that more than MVR 5 million in that account is yet to be deposited in the public bank account.
The audit report recommended that arrangements be made to accept loan repayments under the fund scheme for higher education through the 'Bandeyri Pay' portal. The audit also recommended that the funds in the bank accounts opened in connivance with the funds be deposited in public bank accounts and then closed.
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It has been suggested that information and details of free degree students should be maintained for administrative purposes
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It has also been suggested that the details of hard assets and stocks be maintained in accordance with the Finance Act
