Thulusdhoo Council paid overtime without verifying work performed: Audit Report
3 ނޮވެމްބަރު 2026 | އަންގާރަ 14:48An audit report has revealed that the K. Thulusdhoo Island Council spent over MVR 870,000 on overtime pay without maintaining detailed records of the work performed. The Auditor General noted that disbursing funds without verifying overtime tasks creates significant risks for financial misappropriation and has instructed the council to ensure comprehensive work records are maintained henceforth.
President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu meets with the Kaafu Atoll Thulusdhoo Island Council. | President's Office
The Auditor General’s Office has revealed that the K. Thulusdhoo Island Council disbursed overtime pay without verifying the actual work performed during those additional hours.
The 2024 compliance audit report for the Kaafu Thulusdhoo Island Council, released by the Auditor General’s Office, revealed that the council spent MVR 870,319 on overtime pay during the year. The report noted a lack of documentation to verify the specific tasks performed by employees during these hours, or whether the work had been authorized and deemed essential to be carried out as overtime.
The report further highlighted that overtime logs failed to specify the nature of the work performed by employees during those hours. Despite this lack of documentation, the council's administration authorized the logs and proceeded with the overtime payments.
The report stated that the council administration reported an inability to record specific details of tasks performed during overtime hours within their existing HR system. The report further highlighted that despite the system's technical limitations in logging these details, the council administration had failed to maintain any alternative records, such as manual logs or separate spreadsheets, to document the work performed during those hours.
The report stated that if overtime is logged without detailed descriptions of the tasks performed, it remains unclear whether the council administration verified if the work was essential or could have been completed during regular office hours. It further noted that approving overtime logs without such information creates the risk of disbursing payments for work that does not qualify for overtime compensation.
Recommending measures to rectify these issues, the Auditor General’s Office advised establishing a mechanism to log specific details of tasks performed during overtime. Furthermore, the Office instructed that overtime payments should only be disbursed after verifying that the work performed was necessary and could not have been completed within regular official working hours.
