The Gender Ministry had an unsubstantiated sum of MVR 7 million at the end 2016, the Auditor General’s Office has said. 

The audit report, signed by Auditor General Hassan Ziyath, says that the ministry’s financial statements show a balance of 7 million (specifically 7,584,046) at the end of last year. However, the details of said financial statements do not account for this sum.

Auditors said that not including details of this sum is a failure to adhere to the international public-sector accounting standards (IPSAS). 

The report had called on the Gender Ministry to apply international financial reporting standards in order to provide details of all funds; unspendable, restricted, committed or unassigned. 

Further, the Auditor General’s office noted that given the ministry’s failure to submit financial reports for 2015, the funds listed for that year in its 2016 report cannot be validated. 

Therefore, the state auditors have been unable to establish the working capital the ministry may have had at the start of this year, and by extension cannot validate its financial situation.