On Thursday (July 22), the Auditor-General’s Office made public the findings from its yearly audit of the public sector after tabling it in Parliament the day before.

The 125-page report outlined a series of lapses at various government ministries and agencies that cover many categories such as oversight in procurement and contract management as well as possible irregularities in records submitted for audit.

Here is a snapshot of some of the lapses, including the purchase of excess fitness trackers costing more than S$5.3 million as well as the disbursement of housing grants to ineligible applicants.

S$5.39 MILLION WORTH OF EXCESS FITNESS TRACKERS

The AGO’s audit on the Health Promotion Board (HPB) found that there were excess fitness trackers that were not being used for the agency’s National Steps Challenge that took place over five seasons.

This prompted HPB to conduct a full stock check in January this year, which revealed that there were 341, 208 excess trackers worth S$5.39 million in total.

HPB told TODAY that the excess fitness trackers were bought as a result of over-estimation of demand for its past National Steps Challenge seasons.

Of the excess trackers, 120,000 are still working. They will be used for replacements and exchanges as well as to support community partners, companies and other government agencies in their health and wellness initiatives, HPB said.

It added that moving forward, it will be more conservative in its projections and will make procurements “based on a modest percentage of the previous season’s demand”. It will buy more only when it receives excess bookings from participants. 

HOUSING GRANTS GIVEN TO INELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

AGO carried out a data analysis of resale Housing and Development Board (HDB) flat buyers who applied for and obtained either the Family Grant or Singles Grant during the period of April 1, 2018 to Sept 30 last year.

Of these 22,627 applications, which totalled S$807.77 million, AGO noted that 1,152 applicants might not be eligible for either of the grants.

It test-checked 97 of these 1,152 applicants and found that HDB had disbursed S$405,000 worth of both grants to 13 ineligible applicants.

They did not meet eligibility requirements such as the non-ownership of private property or had exceeded the income ceiling.

AGO told HDB to follow up on the remaining 1,055 applicants to ascertain their eligibility.

In response, HDB said that it would improve the processing and assessment of housing grants and that it will recover the disbursed grants from the 13 ineligible applicants.

It will also take action against applicants who suppressed material information.

ERRONEOUS MEDICAL AND DENTAL CLAIMS

An audit of medical and dental claims in the civil service, administered by the Public Service Division (PSD), found that there were around 9,500 possibly erroneous claims paid to ineligible officers and pensioners between Jan 1, 2018 and March 31 last year.

These were equivalent to 0.3 per cent of the three million claims processed over that period, but the estimated possible overpayment was “not small”, at about S$500,000, AGO noted.

PSD and the Accountant-General’s Department told TODAY they understand that AGO has found no systemic lapses in its audit of the expenditure related to medical and dental benefits incurred during the periods concerned.

However, they are working to determine the appropriate remedial actions for the erroneous cases. For those found to involve dishonesty, disciplinary actions will be taken against the officers.  

INADEQUATE SUPERVISION OF ARTS PREMISE USAGE

Checks by AGO found that 74 entities that were not the National Arts Council’s tenants or sub-tenants had used the address of one of the council’s 37 arts housing premises despite not being allowed to do so.

NAC reviewed the entities and informed AGO that most of them were related to the council's tenants or were former tenants.

However, AGO said that NAC could provide documentary proof for only 10 of the entities.

Furthermore, registered activities of seven of the non-tenant entities were not related to arts, as required under the approved use of the premise under the tenancy agreements.

Instead, they were for unrelated activities such as design and construction, and logistics. 

NAC acknowledged the need to strengthen its oversight.

This includes requiring tenants to seek approval for their related entities to use the premises as their registered addresses, and performing annual checks against records of the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority and the Registry of Societies for all its premises.

In response to queries from TODAY, NAC said that it is “committed to working closely with arts groups to ensure good governance of our arts spaces”.

PAYMENT IRREGULARITIES

AGO checked on 36 payments made by the People’s Association (PA) to two contractors between April 1, 2018 and March 31 last year in relation to a S$6.5 million project to carry out minor building works at an unnamed facility.

“Possible irregularities” were found in the supporting documents in 34 of the 36 payments, which amounted to a total of S$1.17 million.

The payments with possible irregularities each involved one or more items where the rates were not listed in the contract, and this totalled S$1.06 million.

AGO said that the possible irregularities include potential falsification of quotations, alteration of hardcopy payment supporting documents and creation and backdating of documents to “give the false impression” that proper process were followed.

On the possible irregularities in its quotations and documents, PA said in a press statement that it immediately convened an internal investigation panel upon being informed of the potential lapses.

The panel, led by senior officers from PA and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, confirmed AGO’s observations.

“As the lapses relate to serious allegations involving falsification of documents, including in relation to claims by external parties, PA has lodged a police report and investigations are ongoing.

“PA has suspended its staff pending the outcome of these investigations,” the association said.