Mozambique: Minister refutes €24M in Covid funding gone missing

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Mozambique: Minister refutes €24M in Covid funding gone missing

8:33 CAT | 05 Feb 2024

Photo: O País

Mozambique’s minister for gender, children and social action has denied that more than €24 million of the funds disbursed in 2021 to prevent and combat Covid-19 have been misappropriated at the National Institute for Social Action (INAS).

“There was no misappropriation of funds at INAS. We managed to help 1.7 million families when Covid-19 happened,” said Nyeleti Mondlane, on the sidelines of a public event, quoted by the media on Sunday.

At issue is an audit by the Administrative Tribunal of Mozambique that detected a deviation of an amount equivalent to more than €24 million in the funds disbursed in 2021 by the state for the prevention and mitigation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the audit report, to which Lusa had access in December, the Administrative Court stated that it identified “matters that distort the financial statements of the funds disbursed for the prevention and mitigation” of Covid-19 in the 2021 financial year.

The document, sent to the government, states that the National Institute for Social Action, a beneficiary public institution supervised by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Action, incurred expenses totalling around 1.71 billion meticais (€24.2 million), an amount “of which there was no evidence of the contracted services being paid for, which constitutes misappropriation of funds”.

Without giving specific details on how the money was spent, the Mozambican government official emphasised that the money reached the most vulnerable families, leaving any comments on the case to the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

“It was a new experience for the sector, and the sector has its rules. The Covid-19 emergency required us to act quickly. So, in some cases, our staff went to the field and registered the families in vulnerable situations and made the payments (…) we have responded to those who are entitled, which is the Ministry of Economy and Finance,” added Nyeleti Mondlane.

The audit by the Administrative Tribunal of Mozambique also states that undue payments totalling more than 78.6 million meticais (€1.1 million) and ineligible expenses totalling 25 million meticais (€354,000) were made.

Among other things, the Administrative Tribunal also draws attention to contracts not submitted for prior inspection worth more than 57.3 million meticais (€811,000), irregularities in the contracting process totalling more than 100.1 million meticais (€1.4 million) and the lack of supporting documents for expenditure totalling 11.7 million meticais (€165,700).

The document recalls that in view of the effects of Covid-19 on the economy, the Mozambican government drew up a “needs plan” budgeted at $700 million (€633.5 million), of which $100 million (€90.5 million) for prevention and treatment, $200 million (€181 million) to support the state budget, $240 million (€219 million) for transfers to families and $160 million (€145 million) for micro-business.

“In this regard, the government applied for a loan from the International Monetary Fund in April 2020 and requested support from cooperation partners to cover the needs,” it said.

The audit concluded that the “deficiencies” found in the control and management process of these funds “contributed to material misstatements in the Financial Statements”, namely the “deficient communication in relation to the purpose of the disbursements made” by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the “deficient implementation or non-existence of mechanisms” of control, the “deficiency in the organisation of archives and records of accountability processes”.

The document also refers to the “lack of effective mechanisms to ensure that the selection of suppliers of goods and service providers complies with the procurement rules in force in the country” but also to ensure “that contractors, during the construction of public infrastructure, comply with the technical specifications established in the tender documents”.

Source: Lusa