By Musa Paul Feika
According to a parliamentary order, the Ernest Bai Koroma (EBK) University must refund NLe243, 178 or Le243, 178, 000 (two hundred and fifty-three million, one hundred and seventy-eight thousand Leones) paid to staff after retirement.
The Finance Director of the University, Sylvanus Kallay must furnish PAC with the receipt of refund or the matter be referred to the Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.
The fraud was exposed during an audit conducted at the university by the Audit Service Sierra Leone (ASSL).
The order was issued by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chairman, Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Honourable Sengepoh Solomon Thomas during debate of the audit report.
Honourable Thomas also ordered the Director of Finance, Mr. Kallay to deduct the money from the terminal benefits since the staff knew they were retired but still collected salaries from the university coffers.
“Those staff knew that they had retired and they were not supposed to take the money which did not belong to them,” he stressed adding that the affected workers should be informed accordingly.
Honourable Thomas also admonished head of the university to make relevant documents available to ASSL to free their necks from the problem.
He said money matters were serious and urged the university to treat such with utmost respect.
Responding to the order, the Finance Director, Sylvanus Kallay said when the staff were retired, he informed the Accountant-General’s Department for their names to be deleted from the pay roll system.
Mr. Kallay also said the documents were made available to ASSL, but the Deputy Auditor General, Morie Lansana denied receiving the documents.
The Deputy Auditor General also discovered that the university property (land) was also not protected.
As a result, several private and public structures had already been built or erected on the University’s land in Port-Loko and Makeni campuses including the Secretariat and the Government Technical Institute in Magburaka.
Consequently, PAC has vowed to visit the university to verify all university assets and provide a surveyor to survey the land for protection.